$14M overhaul coming to Calif. fire station after major state, federal grants

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After a two-year push, North County Fire Chief Keith McReynolds secured a federal grant to rebuild Station 4 with expanded quarters and room for more engines

October 20, 2025 01:45 PM

By Caleb Lunetta
The San Diego Union-Tribune

FALLBROOK, Calif. — A Fallbrook fire station that has handled some of the community’s most devastating fires in recent years is getting a major makeover to the tune of $14 million, largely in part due to millions of dollars in grants from both the state and federal government.

The recent announcement came after North County Fire Protection Chief Keith McReynolds lobbied for more than two years to secure a $7 million federal grant to revitalize Station No. 4, he said this week. The district had already secured $1 million in state funding for design and pre-construction planning.

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“The new station will enhance service for our residents, bolster regional resilience and safeguard national defense assets at Camp Pendleton ,” McReynolds said.

McReynolds said the funding will subsidize much of the money needed to upgrade the station — which services communities at the intersections of Interstate 15 and state Route 76 , assists Camp Pendleton when fires break out on their base, and protects portions of the state aqueduct system and main gas line for all of San Diego County .

Along with their normal duties, the Fallbrook station has faced extraordinary circumstances over the last two decades, such as the 2007 Rice fire that destroyed 206 homes and the 2017 Lilac fire that burned 114 homes.

Currently, the station can house three firefighters and two single-support personnel with limited room for additional engines and beds during peak fire seasons. The improvements will not only expand the office spaces, living quarters and storage space for the on-site firefighters, it will also include allocated space for a helipad and allow eight to nine firefighters to work there comfortably.

“An issue with the current station is that when we upstaff (for fire season), some of our firefighters end up sleeping on the floor,” McReynolds said. “Now they’re going to have a nice bed to rest in when they’re not fighting fires.”

Long before he came in as fire chief in 2021, McReynolds said that his three decades with the district had shown him the need to improve infrastructure throughout the district, which serves Fallbrook , Bonsall and Rainbow. A 2022 survey of district personnel echoed McReynolds’ thoughts, reporting that 87% of personnel identified failing facilities as the district’s greatest need.

In the last three years, the district has been awarded more than $11.6 million to renovate three of its five fire stations, including putting a firefighting dozer barn at Station No. 3 in Rainbow.

“I’ve been here my whole career, and our stations, our facilities, have always been inadequate for what we need,” McReynolds said. “We just haven’t had the revenue to be able to support a lot of our facility projects.”

The large chunk of funding needed to push the Fallbrook station project over the finish line was an uphill battle, because the grant is one of the most competitive in the country, McReynolds said.

Through an extensive effort from McReynolds, who traveled to the nation’s capital to petition legislators, as well as endorsements from a Congress member, two senators and Camp Pendleton’s Brig. Gen. Nick Brown , the application made the top 10 of more than 100 received from fellow fire departments across the country.

“We walked 20 miles in Washington, D.C. , so we could knock on doors trying to get support for this project,” McReynolds said. “It did not come easy.”

McReynolds said construction on the new 8,694-square-foot station will begin in early 2026 and last approximately 14 months. The goal is to keep the existing infrastructure and services offered by the old station open during the construction.

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