Police and Fire Departments

Learn how to double Police and Fire Department coverage in SimCity by meeting specific zoning and power grid conditions.

Police and Fire Departments (buildings that provide essential services) always offer some coverage in their respective functional areas. However, you can double the quality and size of this coverage by meeting specific conditions for each zone.

The conditions to double coverage are:

• Granting the Zone access to the power grid.
• Connecting a rail or road to the Zone.
• Ensuring the Zone is a Fire or Police headquarters (a 'Present').

While you might strategically avoid giving a zone rail or road access in certain situations, such as within a 'Donut Block' (a residential area surrounded by commercial or industrial zones), meeting these requirements significantly reduces the number of department buildings you need to construct. For instance, you may need fewer Police buildings. Fire Department coverage is only required if a Fire Station is present on the map, meaning you could potentially manage with just one Fire Department building in your entire city. This can help prevent Alerts (notifications that appear at the top of your HUD (heads-up display — the on-screen icons showing health, ammo and the minimap) - Heads-Up Display) from cluttering your screen.