Build

The assembly was fairly straightforward and could be split three ways so that the fire station, the fire engine, and the fire helicopter could be built simultaneously. There are no fascinating or innovative building techniques here other than possibly the fire hydrant. It's a play fire station, not the UCS version (not that a UCS version is needed for this...). It took me about 30–45 minutes to build everything (I was trying to build it as fast as I could, so...).

The building itself appears quite shallow, especially from the images. The main fire station building is very shallow indeed, while the garage is far larger. The floors in the building are quite empty (which I intend to change), and the firepole only extending up to the second floor is slightly irritating, but I don't know if a longer one is even possible. Computer screens (and a gaming controller on the second floor) are installed on each floor.

While this is appreciated, extra details such as a fire bell, more fire extinguishers (really LEGO, just one hiding in the engine?), a fire hose, or a place to store the ladder would have been helpful in drastically improving the play value of this set. The set itself seems quite bare due to these frankly bizarre choices.

The fire engine itself has the highlighter yellow "accent" colour that decorates the station and helicopter as well. Personally, I find it to be a very unfamiliar colour, but it's fine here. The engine itself reminds me of the fire engine I used to have, #60002, in its placement in the storage hatches. The water cannon itself seems unsightly as a result, and I wish the ladder had been incorporated, although I realize we have been given fire engines with ladders so many times now.

The helicopter, not much to say there. The flick fires on the sides shoot egg-shaped water for some reason. It's a very easy build and remains recognizable and relatively streamlined for a helicopter.

The side models create adequate play functions, allowing the water cannon attached to the truck and the flick missiles on the helicopter to shoot down loosely placed fire and a cat to be rescued. Once I got the hang of aiming the missiles, it worked well, and I can imagine a 6- or 7-year-old playing with these functions with lots of excitement. While these builds could have been improved, it is fine.

Parts

The best parts included here are the garage shutter mechanisms, the cute kitten, and the road plate. Right, the road plate. The road plate makes this set seem larger than it is, which is good. On the other hand, it also seems to bulk up the price, which I'll get to later. It feels redundant here within the set given the side builds are right next to the station, but the ramps allow for the engine to be taken off the road plate and into the floor for extra fun for a younger builder. The water shooters can also be considered good parts.

As for the minifigures, there's nothing really special here. Having 5 minifigures seems excessive for such a set, and having 1-2 less would have been fine especially since I would rather like a bigger build. I do not watch the LEGO City TV program and thus cannot analyze how correct the set or the minifigures are to the TV series.

Final Thoughts

This set is expensive, there's no way of getting around that, especially in the US. A 20-30% discount makes this set for palatable for many more people. As for play value, I find this set to have amazing play value. I can easily imagine a kid having hours of fun with this set. Of course, the price is off-putting to most parents, so... search for a discount. The main station itself seems small, and various elements of fire stations seem to be lacking here, but these can be easily added. The engine is nostalgic for me, but I do not like there not being a ladder on the fire truck. I could easily add one though. The helicopter feels like simple, but it's recognizable, so I will let that slide.

Overall, at nonsale price in the US, this should not be bought. Despite this being one of the cheapest fire stations LEGO has produced in a while, this one is just lacking compared to its $100 brethrens. At lower than $50 or euros or pounds, I see this being a much better set.