A temporary, pre-fabricated fire station has opened in Rancho Mission Viejo to meet the increasing demand for emergency services in the rapidly expanding development.

Dubbed the Rienda Station, the 2,600-square-foot facility on Cow Camp Road is set to be torn down once a permanent station is built, according to OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. The delay for a permanent facility is to ensure the future facility is central within the entire community, he said.

The station, which opened on Nov. 18, cost about $5 million to build, according to Mike Balsamo, a Rancho Mission Viejo senior vice president. The land was already owned by the company, but additional costs included landscaping and adding a stoplight next to the station.

OCFA has a ground lease at the station, but the land will continue to be owned by Rancho Mission Viejo, Balsamo said.

The permanent facility is set to open in 2030, assistant chief Rob Capobianco said.  As Rancho Mission Viejo grows, Fennessy said the temporary station, which will primarily serve the nascent Rienda Village, will ensure OCFA can maintain its 8-and-a-half-minute response time and support the existing Sendero Station.

The Rienda Station is expected to serve about 7,000 households or approximately 25,000 people, according to an estimate from OCFA spokesperson Matt Olson.

Rancho Mission Viejo’s development in the hilly, brush-lined former ranch lands of South Orange County is far from over. “The Ranch Plan,” which was approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2004, outlines a development totaling more than 20,000 acres. About 17,000 acres are designated permanent open space, according to the Rancho Mission Viejo website.

The purchase of the land dates to 1882 when Richard O’Neill and James Flood bought three ranches — Santa Margarita y Las Flores,  Trabuco, and Misión Vieja — comprising upwards of 210,000 acres. In 1942, the U.S. Navy purchased a portion of O’Neill’s shares for the development of Camp Pendleton.

Today, descendants of O’Neill oversee the development at Rancho Mission Viejo.

It is not yet clear when Rancho Mission Viejo’s development will be finished, according to Balsamo, who added the pace of the community’s build-out depends on market factors.

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