Built to house a crew of firefighters, paramedics and a rescue ladder engine with a Drive-through apparatus, The Encinitas Fire Station No. 5 was designed to blend with the residential neighborhood where it was to be located. The building profile and scale, the choice of materials, the breakdown of the massing, was the result of this goal.

The building was recognized as the best fire station in North County, and featured in the book "San Diego Architecture", published for the AIA National Convention, in 200of the AIA held in San Diego in 2003