A volunteer fire department was formed in the 1970’s due to the need for more protection, and  faster response times in the Ellerbe Road area located in the southeaster part of Caddo Parish just south of Shreveport’s city limits.  This area literally came out of the woodwork of this once shady, peaceful country-side.  This area is considered by some as one of the fastest growing in Caddo Parish.

The first station was originally built by the Keithville Volunteer Fire Department and served as its satellite station.  At that time Keithville VFD was protecting just about the whole southern part of Caddo Parish, but as the area between Keithville and Ellerbe grew it became apparent that Keithville could no longer operate the substation, so they were instrumental in forming the Ellerbe Road Volunteer Dept.  They even donated their station and 1000 GPM pumper to the newly formed organization.  The old station, located on Overton Brooks Road, was basically a log cabin that the volunteers built. It housed a couple of rigs, but did not have room for an office.  The office was later added by the volunteers.

When Louisiana passed the Fire Protection District legislation it gave a tax base for operating fire service organizations such as the Ellerbe Rd. VFD.  It then became know as Caddo Parish Fire District # 5, and allowed the new fire district the necessary finances to build a new Station in 1985 to replaced the log cabin station on Overton Brooks Road.

Over the years two additional sub-stations were built - A Station at Caspiana Levee Road and Highway 1 and another at Norris Ferry & Southern Trace Pkwy. 

The fire station on Overton Brooks was replaced by a Station at 1675 Leonard Road on September 29, 2003. This station is designated as "Central" and houses CFD 5's Headquarters, and several pieces of apparatus other firefighting equipment.

In the summer of 2005 former Caddo Fire District 9's area of responsibility was absorbed into Fire District 5.  The Fire Dist. 9’s Station, located at 5151 Dixie Garden, is now Fire District 5's Station 2. The two unmanned sub-stations are now designated as Station 3 (Caspiana Levee Road and Highway 1) and Station 4 (Norris Ferry & Southern Trace Pkwy).  Stations 3 and 4 are un-manned and house apparatus and equipment which are retrieved as needed for emergency calls. 

In 2005 Fire District 5 improved their PIAL (Property Insurance Association of Louisiana) ranking by 2 points.  Improvements in equipment, number of trained firefighters, EMT's and other requirements elevated CFD 5's ranking from a 6 to a 4.