City

Fire Brigade

A sardine factory on fire, a small fleet to put it out, and more kittens than any fire set has a right to.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 60321 · 2022

Pieces766

Minifigs5

Year2022

Set number60321

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The verdict

The thing that sold me here was how gleefully specific the emergency is: it isn't a generic burning building, it's a three-storey sardine factory with a secret sauce vat and a backdraft that pops the cargo container open.

You get four vehicles, five minifigs including Clemmons and Feldman from the City Adventures show, and a genuinely charming pile of animals to rescue. It leans hard toward play over display, so if you want a model to sit on a shelf and admire, this is not that. But for a kid who wants a whole rescue scenario in one box, it delivers.

Best for: Kids 7 and up who want a full firefighting scenario with vehicles, victims, and working play functions

The full review

What it is

I have a real soft spot for the moment a City set commits to a weird, specific premise, and the Fire Brigade goes all in. The blaze isn't happening at some anonymous house, it's tearing through a three-level sardine factory, complete with a vat of secret sauce and a fold-back flame wall. Firefighters roll in on a fire truck with a trailer, a chief's pickup, and a little fire motorbike, and their job is to knock back the flames and get everyone out. What got me was the cast of victims: a dog, a cat, and three tiny kittens, which is a genuinely sweet detail that gives a young builder a clear reason to care about the rescue. Add Clemmons and Feldman from the LEGO City Adventures TV series and there is a lot of character packed into 766 pieces.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the price, though. At its 99.99 launch RRP, this was asking a lot for a set that is mostly chunky City elements and prefab vehicle bases. The piece count sounds generous until you notice it's spread across a factory and four separate vehicles, which means no single model is especially large or detailed. This is a set built around play functions, not around a satisfying centrepiece, so the fire truck and the pickup are pretty simple once you have them in hand. If you buy it at a discount (it has often sold nearer 70 dollars), the value feels a lot fairer than it did at full sticker.

Who it's for

So who thrives with this one? A kid around the 7-plus mark who wants a complete story in a box: a fire to fight, tools to fight it with, vehicles to drive, and animals to save. It hits all of that and the working features hold up to real handling. Who should skip it? Anyone chasing a display model or a meaty single build, and adult collectors looking for a technical challenge. It's now retired, and sealed copies have crept up in value, so if the sardine factory charmed you the way it charmed me, a sensibly priced one is worth grabbing before they climb further.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this is a light, breezy couple of hours, and it's clearly paced for a younger builder working through the bags on their own. The factory goes together in tidy sections with the fold-back flame mechanism and the backdraft container being the most fun to assemble, because you actually get to test the function as you finish it. The vehicles are quick, satisfying little builds that reward you fast, which is exactly the right rhythm for the target age. Nobody will be stumped here, and that is the point.

On parts, this is a play-feature set rather than a parts-pack treasure trove, so temper your expectations if you're buying for the bricks. The standouts are the printed sardine-tin and factory signage elements that sell the fishy premise, plus the trans flame pieces and the spring-loaded launchers that power the water darts and the sauce splat. The animal moulds are the real gems: three kitten figures alongside the cat and dog are lovely to have loose in a collection. At roughly 13 cents a piece at RRP it isn't a bargain by weight, but the money is really going toward the functions and the figures rather than raw part count.

Fun facts

01Clemmons and Feldman, two of the minifigs, are recurring characters from the animated LEGO City Adventures TV series.
02The emergency isn't a generic building fire but a three-storey sardine factory, complete with a 'secret sauce' vat that can spill during play.
03The cargo container has a backdraft function that pops open, mimicking the sudden flare firefighters train for.
04Released in January 2022, the set retired at the end of 2023, and sealed copies have since climbed above the 99.99 original RRP on the aftermarket.