Random set of the day: Flame Fighters
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6571 Flame Fighters, released during 1994. It's one of 29 Town sets produced that year. It contains 428 pieces and 4 minifigs, and its retail price was US$55.
It's owned by 2,114 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $251.60, or eBay.
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32 comments on this article
Ooh. A very nice fire station set. I like it.
@Miyakan said:
"Ooh. A very nice fire station set. I like it."
What? No, this is "Flame Fighters". It's where all the message board moderators work...in what appears to be an abandoned fire station. With abandoned firefighting equipment. Okay, yeah, I guess I can see how one might come to that conclusion.
Gee, I guess they've done such a good job, there ain't no flames left for them to fight. Those flames think twice about showing up in this town.
That's the private version of firefighters; they only answer if you can pay. They have that nickname from the fact that if you have no money, they'll only fight one flame.
You do have insurance, right?
@Miyakan said:
"Ooh. A very nice fire station set. I like it."
You took the words right out of my mouth. This is pretty much perfect classic Lego Town.
@Randomness said:
"That's the private version of firefighters; they only answer if you can pay. They have that nickname from the fact that if you have no money, they'll only fight one flame.
You do have insurance, right?"
That's just the Trauma Team from Cyberpunk 2077...
I think this is one of my favourite fire stations that Lego ever put out. It's neat and clean, but it also has a distinctive style to the building, I really like it.
@Randomness:
I don't know if this is how things worked in feudal Japan, but the capital city of Rokugan from Legends of the Five Rings (which is mostly based on Japan) had like the mob equivalent of fire departments. There were competing groups (gangs, really) who would offer to protect your business and/or residence from fire on a subscription basis. Pay up when they came to collect, and they'd legitimately try to fight any fires that sprung up on your property (after all, if everything burns down, they lose all their "customers). _Don't_ pay up, and they may _set_ fires on your property and let it burn (preventing it from spreading to neighbors who did pay up). And even if you do pay them, a rival group from the next neighborhood may commit acts of arson in your neighborhood as a way to drive your guys out, so they can take over the local protection racket. It was kinda like the mafia offering to keep your store from being robbed (and trashing the place if you refuse to pay them), but based entirely around fires.
Back when public buildings had greenery included. Nowadays it’s rare. And keep in mind that wonderful baseplate!
This is truly one of the Great Ones, not eclipsed until the Fire Station modular came out in 2009. I didn't get much of a fire fighting force in the 1990s, and I always wanted this to go next to my Metro PD Station. The opportunity to get it NISB finally came in 2018 when I found an eBay seller selling it along with NISB copies of 6340 6348 and 6398 . The overall price for these four beauties (none of which I owned previously) was appealing enough that I bit the bullet and bought the lot.
Interestingly, apart from opening the box to inspect the contents, I haven't built this set yet. My Lego Town layout is still coming along, and the "1990s district" will feature this set prominently. And yes, it was important to open the box even if I didn't build it because even back then, missing parts was an issue! Case in point was the Central Precinct HQ--it was missing the entire sticker sheet! Only in the last couple of months have I found someone carrying an extra on Bricklink that I was able to buy. Now the set is complete!
In 1994 Classic Town was still at its best, or close. Somehow, I missed this set - I had its predecessor, 6389 and guess I decided I didn’t need a second fire station (how wrong I was!).
This set was visually consistent with the other sets of its era in terms of both vehicles and buildings. There was definitely a design ethos running through the whole line.
The 90s were a simpler time for LEGO vehicles - the 4-wide ones in this set were basic but still stylish. The buildings, too, carefully navigated a fine line between simple but also just enough in terms of functionality and play value.
@jschwarz said:
"This set was visually consistent with the other sets of its era in terms of both vehicles and buildings. There was definitely a design ethos running through the whole line.
The 90s were a simpler time for LEGO vehicles - the 4-wide ones in this set were basic but still stylish. The buildings, too, carefully navigated a fine line between simple but also just enough in terms of functionality and play value. "
Indeed! The stylistic and visual consistency was key to the appeal of LEGO Town, and why I (and many, many others) became so disenchanted with it starting in 1997. Even going back to the late 1980s, you can see a progression in the designs without totally invalidating the cohesive nature of the Town layout. The year 1994 was the pinnacle, and this set is an exemplar of that age.
The station looks modern to satisfy more "realistic" tastes, but garish and bright enough to appeal to a child's attention span. The toyetic qualities are put front and center with three vehicles, three distinct minifigures to drive them, and a command center with another minifigure to handle it. The space is defined and enlivened thanks to the baseplate. So much wonderful potential!
@Randomness (and @PurpleDave): Funny you bring up "Fire Insurance"; places like New York City had a system where you would pay a station/hall to protect your home or business (and one would assume both as well) from fire.
Problem came if a different hall/station got there first. The firefighters would look at the door/wall, see the 'mark' (a crest, shape like a badge of the hall/station you're assuring through) and...do nothing, or at least next-to-nothing (it could be assumed they'd protect the people on the street). So unless your hall/station get there fast...
As to the set: not bad, I do like those garage door, vehicles or 'ok', though I get 'bus' vibes from the ladder truck (like the turntable though).
@brick_r:
I was thinking I’d heard of something like that, from back in the Gangs of New York days, maybe, but I just couldn’t be sure. Hopefully they weren’t committing acts of arson against their rivals’ clients like how it was supposed to work in Rokugan’s capital.
Peak Lego Town. Others have already elaborated why this set is so good, so I'll just say that I love everything about it. Especially the simplicity of the build, proving that "less is more" and the confinement and definition that the baseplate provides.
I still remember unwrapping this set at Christmas (and 6340) moments later. The Christmas that topped getting 6397! Finally, I no longer had to wait for my brother to haul out his 6382!! Still have all those three; however, 6340 was later rebuilt into a non-articulating platform ladder truck. They'll have to pry those sets out of my cold, dead hands.
Looking at this set, I see that making vehicles 6 stud didn't make them more functional or realistic. First thing that comes to mind is most of the new sets don't have doors, and not only that they still seat one minifigure in them. I have this set and that 4 stud fire engine has so many storage space and functions left and right, it puts the newer sets to shame. Naturally we end up paying for the difference in size, but not much else.
@brick_r said:
" @Randomness (and @PurpleDave): Funny you bring up "Fire Insurance"; places like New York City had a system where you would pay a station/hall to protect your home or business (and one would assume both as well) from fire.
Problem came if a different hall/station got there first. The firefighters would look at the door/wall, see the 'mark' (a crest, shape like a badge of the hall/station you're assuring through) and...do nothing, or at least next-to-nothing (it could be assumed they'd protect the people on the street). So unless your hall/station get there fast...
As to the set: not bad, I do like those garage door, vehicles or 'ok', though I get 'bus' vibes from the ladder truck (like the turntable though)."
According to research by Tom Scott this is a myth without any evidence. It's quite fascinating subject, take a look here: https://www.tomscott.com/corrections/firemarks/
“What are these people called?”
“Firefighters”
“Flame fighters”
“That’s nothing like what I just said.”
What drew me to the set was the appliance, those lockers are the best. The building missing most of the side was downfall compared to the other stations in my "brigade" 6382, 6385 and to an extent 6389. I did end up with 2 copies and just used the building parts to enclose the missing walls. 6382 will always be the pinnacle station in town/city but man those lockers.
The step down design of the body that brought the storage below the wheel line was a revelation and sparked a massive MOC building spree to modernise the vehicles in my brigade.
@Trigger_ said:
"“What are these people called?”
“Firefighters”
“Flame fighters”
“That’s nothing like what I just said.”"
“Foo Fighters?”
“Now you’re not even trying!”
A great one!
The printed fire chief's helmet was nice. It only appeared here and in the 1997 Fire Fighters Station from the juniorized Town line.
The last fire station with a full 32x32 size baseplate so that kids could move it around without the buildings falling apart.
@scottd
Although I also wish LEGO would close up their garages, near where I live there exists something that is a real life equivalent to the open LEGO garage: a carport with a roller door! Everytime I walk by it, I think of LEGO fire stations...
This is still my favorite fire fighter set. So perfect in so many ways.
Lovely set. Just the faintest whiff of juniorisation on its way? (Open top police car, that later design of window including the non-opening “velux” types)
If you want to believe the UK Lego Adventures magazine that ran from 1999 - 2002, that firefighter (the one with the moustache and printed helmet) is named Jack. He was perhaps the third or fourth most commonly recurring character in the magazine's 'City' (i.e. Town Jr.) comic strips, behind Highway Patrolman Bill, the Brickster (actually Jailbreak Joe misnamed), and possibly Builder Pete.
Personally I didn't find the City comic strips that interesting, compared to the crazier adventures of things like Adventurers, Ninja, Rock Raiders, Knights' Kingdom, Alpha Team and Life on Mars. But they were still Lego, so I still paid attention to them.
Also, yeah, it's a nice set, although from before... well, not quite *before* my time, but before I was old enough to care about Lego at least! Nice box art, too; simple enough, but with a gentle sense of atmosphere to it nonetheless.
428 pieces
That got you
a baseplate
four minifigs
a fire chief's car
a fire engine
a fire helicopter
an entire fire station with two garages and a multi-storey command tower
428 pieces
Let that sink in for a moment.
A modern day Speed Champions car alone has about 300 pieces. And that's for ONE measly car.
No wonder those old sets fetch insane prices on the aftermarket.
The design of this Fire Station was a major change, compared to the 3 previous sets, too similar 6382 from 1981 , 6385 from 1985 and 6389 from 1990 . But unfortunately I don't like the lack of side walls.
My younger brother received it, at the time, and I finished rebuilding it completely in 2020. I have to recreate de sticker next to the door, now.
@AustinPowers:
My 6-wide Mater (378pcs) and minifig-scale Dodge Tomahawk (63pcs) use 441pcs combined.
If I think of the LEGO catalogues of my childhood, this is THE fire station--and I echo the whole thread, saying it's among the best. I got a few pieces from it last year (the printed chief's helmet, the red frames and white doors, and enough other pieces to recognise it). Not enough to rebuild the whole thing, alas, but I do have the truck kicking around now. It's a nice 90s fire truck.