New fire station will help save energy, water

SCOTTSDALE - Scottsdale's new $7.3 million station is not only poised to respond more quickly to save lives, it is also carefully programmed to save energy and water.

The new station, which began rolling on calls this week, will open to the public from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 23, showcasing the firefighter's quarters and the fire house's unique environmental systems for saving energy and water.

The 12,000-foot, two-story firehouse at Indian School and Miller roads, is the second public building created under a three-year-old city initiative that requires new and significantly renovated structures to meet the tough standards set by the United States Green Building Council.

The first in Scottsdale was the Granite Reef Senior Center at Granite Reef and McDowell roads - opened in May 2006 - using the council's gold standard Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, known as LEED standards.

The senior center's energy-saving techniques, including solar panels, lopped 48.3 percent - or $31,000 - off the center's gas and electric bills last year, said Anthony Floyd, Scottsdale's green building program manager.

The savings continue, Floyd said, because "rates have gone up."

Along with standard workout rooms, dorms and a spacious kitchen, the firehouse has waterless urinals, double-flush toilets, natural lighting, solar heat and sophisticated systems to recycle "gray water" from bathroom sinks and showers.

"Everything but the kitchen sink," which would not be suitable for irrigation, Floyd said.

Double-flush toilets, one for solids and one for liquid wastes, save water without "sacrificing the performance of earlier models," he said.

"I don't know why we haven't been doing this all along," Floyd said. "These (toilets) are a great example to show that we are fiscally responsible in a time of drought."

The new station will be staffed with two, four-person crews, including an engine and ladder truck and battalion chief.

It was located near downtown to speed crews to new high-rise condominiums and shopping centers and older parts of south Scottsdale, said Tiffani Nichols, a Fire Department spokeswoman.

Three other stations are on the drawing board, as part of the three-year-old municipal department's goal of getting crews to emergencies within four minutes 80 percent of the time. The department took over from the private Rural/Metro Corp., which had served Scottsdale for more than 50 years.

Other fire stations in the pipeline.

• A $6.3 million station is planned on one acre in Eldorado Park, near Miller and McDowell Road.

• A more than $5 million station at Cactus Road and 96th Street.
• A $5.3 million station near Jomax and Miller roads. Plans are on hold while officials look for land and work with neighbors, some of whom have resisted a fire station in the area.

The 12,000-foot, two-story firehouse at Indian School and Miller roads is the second public building created under a three-year-old city initiative that requires new and significantly renovated structures to meet the tough standards.