SimCity 231: Fire Station

Fire stations are the initial ploppable by which you will control your citizens' ability to set themselves on fire. These buildings dispatch fire trucks around your city in response to fire events. Depending on how you upgrade the building -- and you're going to want to fully upgrade each one you build -- they dispatch more trucks and they do it faster.

The photo above shows a fully upgraded fire station. I put my flag pole on the corner between the main building and the garages, the sign on top of the first garage I added, the bell on top of the main station, and then ran the garages down the street because I wasn't overly concerned about maximizing real estate. Upgrades are important. Without them, fires will be put out but they will absolutely be reduced to rubble.

Module: Bell

When a fire is about to start, the Sims will make humorous comments that show that they have done something stupid and their house is about to catch fire. When a bell is attached to your fire house, your engines will begin rolling the second this though bubble pops up. Failing the installation of a bell, your engines will roll shortly after the fire begins. Having a bell on each of your stations will greatly improve your fire coverage, reduce your rubble and abandonment problems, and help you mitigate the amount of pain engines caught in traffic will cause you.

Module: Garage

Unlike the police station which simply plops down two extra cars in their parking lot, fire trucks require their own garage in order to function. This means that generally speaking, fire stations take up more space than police stations. The best way to handle this is to build a road along side your fire station that pulls back away from the main road dedicated solely to your garages. This keeps them from taking up valuable real estate.

Module: Pole and Sign

Sadly the fire pole is a flag pole and not a fireman's pole. Other than my personal disappointment, these two modules are cosmetic and offer no benefit to your city.

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