Engine 31 runs from San Diego Fire Station 31 in Allied Gardens, a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department station at 6002 Camino Rico in the 92120 ZIP. The station originally opened in 1960 at a construction cost of $71,700, and the current building replaced the original structure in December 2005 as part of a citywide fire station modernization program. Engine 31 covers a first-due district of 6.30 square miles spanning the Grantville and Del Cerro communities, responding to structure fires, medical emergencies, and vehicle accidents across the residential hillsides and commercial corridors of eastern San Diego. The district includes Waring Road, where auto repair shops such as Stress-Free Auto Care in Allied Gardens operate in a commercial strip that generates vehicle-accident and hazardous-material response calls. All SDFD personnel carry EMT or paramedic certification, and Engine 31's crew provides advanced life support on medical calls throughout the surrounding neighborhoods, including the residential streets between the Interstate 8 corridor and the ridgeline above Del Cerro Boulevard. The Camino Rico location sits between Zion Avenue and Orcutt Avenue, within the Allied Gardens residential grid where mid-century single-family homes and mature landscaping create fire-weather risk during Santa Ana wind events each fall. SDFD's seven-battalion structure assigns Station 31 to the eastern coverage zone, where mutual-aid agreements with La Mesa Fire Department provide cross-boundary response on calls near the city limits along Jackson Drive and Lake Murray Boulevard. Fire safety education reaches into Allied Gardens schools, including Lewis Middle School on Orcutt Avenue, where department personnel conduct annual fire-prevention assemblies and evacuation drills. The 2005 replacement station incorporated seismic upgrades and apparatus bay expansions that accommodate modern engine dimensions, replacing the original 1960 structure that predated current NFPA station-design standards.