7945 - Fire Station

7945: Fire Station

Year: 2007

Pieces: 600

Retail Price: $59.99 (paid in full)

Theme: City (fire)





This set in a traditional city set. It seems that about every 3-4 years, LEGO releases a new fire station. It's one of those things where it is what it is. It's a cash cow for LEGO but its also one of the reasons we haven't purchased a new fire station - we already have one! This set comes with a fire station, fire chief car, and fire truck, all for saving the residents of Legopolis (when the superheroes aren't present of course) and the instructions are broken up the same way - car, truck, and station.

 

The first set of instructions is the police chief's car. The chief has a silver helmet, clearly distinguishing himself from the rest of the fire fighters. It also matches his hair, I'm sure. The vehicle itself is kind of plain, but it is just supposed to be a normal car modified for the fire chief. It is kind of odd though. I can't tell if it's supposed to be a car hatchback, SUV, or minivan. If it were a production car, it would clearly be a Nissan because it is ugly and not very well designed but I digress.  The car hatch opens in back to reveal a place custom designed for the chief to stow his oxygen tank, face visor, and regulator.

The second part of the build consists of the fire truck. It is actually a very well designed ladder truck, I think. The ladder extends quite a bit of distance and allows a fire fighter to elevate themselves to probably a 5 or 6 story LEGO building. It contains two legs to keep the fire truck supported during the high elevation rescues and also contains a few fire extinguishers, a control seat to control the boom, and a hose. The truck doesn't have much room for water storage so it must pump it from fire hydrants. All together the truck looks great and is easily recognizable as a fire truck, both looking and acting the part well.

The third and last part of this build is the fire station itself. It comes in three parts - the left side, right side, and center. The left and right sides are the garages for the vehicles with the center portion being a control center of sorts.

 

The left side garage is built for the fire truck. It is taller than the right side due to the increased height of the fire truck vs. the chief's car. It has skylights, "glass" roll up doors, and a ladder hung to the side of the garage. The left side of the garage is left mostly open to allow kids to play inside and to help the truck out of the garage (despite the increased height, the truck's boom sometimes gets stuck and I think it would really be one more stud high). It comes on two base plates to allow the fire truck to fit completely inside. Even then though, the fire trucks boom extends past the end of the building which keeps the building from being placed flush against a wall. This wing also contains a bed for a fire fighter to sleep in, but only one at a time (single beds are only made for one after all) and a tool station which contains everything needed to keep the station clean (shovel, broom, brush, bucket, water faucet).

 

The right wing contains a garage for the chiefs car. It has some red and white flowers, roll up garage door, and skylights but doesn't really have anything else to it - pretty cut and dry. It does fit the chief's car nicely without any issues.

The center section joins the two wings together and serves as the control center for the fire station. This section is two stories high with the bottom floor serving as the entrance and living area and the second floor as the control center.  The first floor contains a desk with a computer and ID card checker so that unscrupulous citizens of Legopolis do not cause havoc in the fire station. It also contains a very nice looking LEGO coffee pot, a must have for fire fighters (and coffee drinkers) everywhere. Maybe that ID checker is making sure the station doesn't get overwhelmed by coffee drinkers each morning as it is the only coffee pot I've seen so far in LEGO land. The front door is also a sliding "automatic" door which I found to be a cool feature. It doesn't slide perfectly all the time but it sets the building apart from other LEGO structures.

The second floor contains the LEGO fire control center. It has a single computer console, slylights, and... a radar/weapons targeting station?  I'm not sure what the fire station is monitoring that it needs a radar station and weapons in it but perhaps it's a secret homeland security or NSA facility and that's why the extra security is needed at the front door?

And that's the 7945 fire station. Compared to other fire stations, I still like this one the best. The roll up doors and spread layout makes it look the most like any normal fire station I have seen. It could use some more livable area inside but it has the necessities... and even a weapons system for the impending zombie apocalypse.