60004 was the 18th fire station that TLG had released since 1957 (according to Brickset.com's database at the time of this review being written), and the 8th since the start of the 21st century, and the fourth in the City theme, which was, at the time, eight years old. This certainly back up the claims of many fans that TLG releases too many Fire Brigade sets, but this was only the second that really looked modern, and the tallest one to date.

The box is a large one, and depicts a crate on fire outside the Fire Station, and all the firefighters making a big thing of it. The back of the box suggests play features, and the sides give out warnings, and the 1:1 minifigure scale image.

There are five instruction manuals, and they and the sticker sheet all come packaged in a bag with cardboard inside to prevent folding issues. Manual 1 has instructions for the van, Manual 2 has instructions for the helicopter, Manual 3 has instructions for the truck, manual 4 has instructions for the station / garage 2, and Manual 5 has instructions for garage 1 and the helipad.

There are 752 parts in this set, according to the box, and a number of red, white and bluish grey of both shades appear. I won't go into the interesting parts for this set, as there are too many for me to list, but you can view the inventory here: http://brickset.com/inventories/60004-1.

Part 2 will cover the minifigures, build, completed model, and my overall thoughts on this set.

The Fire Station is a fun set with many features and a ton of playability - so let's cut to the chase.

PROS:

Minifigures: Five minifigs come with this set, and they’re fairly diverse for a group of fire fighters: fire chief with gold helmet and white body, helicopter pilot with flight suit, a male fire fighter with orange vest, and a male and female fire fighter both with black gear. I find it particularly nice that a female fire fighter is included with this set, as there aren’t too many female minifigs on the whole. A cool Dalmatian is also included.

Vehicles: The vehicles in this set – fire truck, fire car, fire helicopter – are very well done. The fire truck is the most complex of the three and has a roomy cab, working ladder, retractable hose, and a couple storage boxes. The fire car accommodates only one minifig, but has an exterior attachment for a fire extinguisher and a rear storage compartment large enough to store a full get-up of fire-fighting gear. The helicopter is pretty basic (similar to some of the police helicopters), but has a cool side-mounted water cannon.

Station Interior: The interior of the fire station is excellent and comes with a lot of detail. The ground floor includes the front office and garage bays for the truck and car. The front office has a cool set of computers for the fire chief to watch and a phone to take calls. The garage bays accommodate the vehicles well and have doors that slide up and out of the way. The second floor is home to a large equipment room to hold spare fire-fighting gear. The room also opens to the rooftop where the helicopter landing pad is (the chopper fits nicely and securely on the pad). The third and final floor is probably my favorite. It has a small table, chairs, and kitchen for the fire fighters to use.

CONS:

Tricky to Move: The biggest issue I’ve run into with this set the stability of its base. This is not to say the structure is unsteady; when the building is up it stays up. You can move and place minifigs inside with confidence. However, when I try to move the entire set it seems that all of the plates that make up the base start to come apart. In order to prevent that issue I slide my fire station onto something else flat and sturdy (coffee table book) when moving it.

Fire Fighter Pole: The station features a classic pole for the fire fighters to slide down to the ground floor. This particular pole has a platform that the minifigs can ride on, which is nicely done. Oddly enough, the pole is located on the outside of the building, and the access points on the second and third floor are where windows ought to be. I’m pretty sure the Lego designers did this so it would be easier to play with, but it really is odd and detracts from the look of the station. I modified my station so the fire pole is inside and found two additional windows to fill in the previous access points. It didn’t take much effort, and I only needed a few pieces aside from those that came with the set. Having the pole on the inside of the station doesn’t impede any other features either.

Garage Bays: The car and truck can slide out of the garage backwards if the station is moved. However, this is really a minor issue and can be easily fixed by adding a few pieces behind the vehicles to keep them in place.

Helicopter Landing Pad: Another small issue here. I thought the pad was placed too far forward on the rooftop, so that the minifig had very little room to access the helicopter. But it’s easy to move the entire landing pad back or to the side if desired.

All around, this is a fabulous set. This was the first Lego fire fighter set I’ve ever bought and it certainly delivered the goods at every point. It covers the bases with a good selection of minifigs, three different vehicles, and a great building. I definitely recommend this set to anyone.

Lego city 60004:fire station

item #:60004

pieces:753

bags #:9

price (U.S.):$100

This lego set is a great one!

minifigures

the fire chief is the best one in the whole set! His pants are plain black, but the shirt, face, and helmet are new to this set. He comes with a walkie-talkie.

the pilot is the pretty standard for fire pilots, but has the firefighter pant legs. He has a standard head with sunglasses, and the normal white helmet.

the firefighters are nice, with two being the normal while the other a driver. there are two men and one woman. they all have the standard "new" red helmet.

the station

the first floor of the station has a desk with computer, map, phone, and coffee cup. The second floor has two racks with some accessories, such as a walkie-talkie, fire extinguisher, etc. The third floor has a break room, with a table, sink, counter, etc.

The garages have enough room to fit both vehicles, and in the truck's section, you can also fit a quad.

the truck has a ladder, hose, cab, and cabinets for some cones.

the SUV has room to fit the breathing apparatus, and you can clip a fire extinguisher and walkie-talkie to the side. the cab has room for one minifigure.

the helicopter is small but affective. it can fit the pilot only, and has a water tank in the middle. the water tank leads a yellow tube, which leads to a nozzle on the side. the helicopter can land on the helipad on garage #1.

Overall, I really like this set. I highly recommend it. below is the order of how you build it.

book #1:SUV/bag 1

book #2:helicopter/bag 2

book #3:fire truck/bags 3&4

book#4:station/garage 2/bags 5,6,&7

book #5garage 1/bags 8&9

I bought this set 30% off at the local toy fair and I'm very satisfied. LEGO really did a great job here. The vehicles are great and well designed and the building has good details and good playability and not to mention it's HUGE. [Well huge when compared to the 2010 airport, 2012 hospital]

But it's large size would prove to be it's downfall-it's too big for my city! :(

Pros

• Huge size
• 5 minifigs!
• Dalmatian dog!
• Great details on the building
• Sliding pole
• Helipad

Cons

• Too big for my city
• 2nd floor of building could've been added more. A chair or computer or TV?
• The surrounding of the helipad could've been more detailed

Usually this set costs around the equivalent of $150 where I live. I bought it for the equivalent of $99. It's a great set that could've been improved. I recommend to buy it when theres discount [around 10% or more]. It doesn'thave enough playability as I expected, but its good for displaying.

I'm 33, and was very much into Legos as a kid. Now that I have kids of my own, I buy my 4-year old son sets all the time (which is partially influenced by the fact that I like to put them together myself for him to play with). This fire station is a fairly large set, but is difficult to build and keep together. The floor areas are made up of somewhat small pieces, held together by 2x2 or 4x2 plates. The pillars for the garage and 2nd and 3rd floor are mainly 1x2, and sometimes 2x2, bricks. They frequently use 1x2x(8 high?) pieces, with 2 1x2 bricks at the top and 2 at the bottom. Needless to say, between the floor sections held together somewhat weakly and the thin pillars, it is frustrating at times when building (especially if you are building on a carpeted surface).

There are 3 floors, but no stairs or access aside from the open back of the station and the firepole in front. Detail is good for the City series, with a small kitchen, office, etc. 2 garage doors slide open and closed for the fire truck and fire chief's car.

All in all it is ok, but probably one of my least favorite sets to build over again.