The Tubac (Ariz.) Fire District broke ground on its Fire Station No. 4 last month. The station will be 9,200 square feet and will house six firefighters per shift.

Designed to blend with the residential scale of the neighborhood the new station uses materials, forms and colors indicative of the architectural flavor of the region. The station also incorporates several sustainable features, including low-flow plumbing fixtures, native landscaping and water harvesting to conserve water; cool roof materials and high-performance windows to conserve energy; and photovoltaic roof panels to generate electricity from the sun.

The construction of the fire station is expected to be completed July 2010. The funding for the fire station came from the bond issue approved in November 2008. Breckenridge Group is the architect of record for the design of the fire station.