RSF Fire District making progress on new Harmony Grove station

Construction of the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection district’s sixth station is making progress, tentatively scheduled for a July opening in the community of Harmony Grove in Escondido.

The district has been working out of temporary trailers on site since they merged with the Elfin Forest/ Harmony Grove Fire Department in July 2016. The new permanent building, known as Station 5, started construction in August 2019 at the same location, 2604 Overlook Point in Harmony Grove.

The station is the district’s newest since they rebuilt Station 3 on El Apajo in 2011. The new $7 million station will be 9,000 square feet and will include five dorm rooms, a gym, kitchen and dining room, a rec room where the firefighters can relax in the evening, training and community room, and a three-wide apparatus bay.

The fire district currently spans approximately 50 square miles and protects over 34,000 citizens in Rancho Santa Fe, 4S-Ranch, Fairbanks Ranch, Cielo, The Crosby, Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove.

According to Julie Taber, district public education coordinator, there won’t be a difference in coverage at this time but the new station was built to accommodate additional personnel and apparatus should it be needed in the future.