A propriedade .length usual da matriz não funciona nas matrizes retornadas pelo firebase. Aqui está o console.log da matriz retornada:

0: Object
1: Object
2: Object
3: Object
4: Object
$added: function () { [native code] }
$error: function () { [native code] }
$moved: function () { [native code] }
$removed: function () { [native code] }
$updated: function () { [native code] }
$add: function () { [native code] }
$destroy: function () { [native code] }
$getRecord: function () { [native code] }
$indexFor: function () { [native code] }
$inst: function () { [native code] }
$keyAt: function () { [native code] }
$loaded: function () { [native code] }
$remove: function () { [native code] }
$save: function () { [native code] }
$watch: function () { [native code] }
length: 5
__proto__: Array[0]
concat: function concat() { [native code] }
constructor: function Array() { [native code] }
every: function every() { [native code] }
filter: function filter() { [native code] }
findIndex: function (a){if(null==this)throw new TypeError("Array.prototype.find called on null or undefined");if("function"!=typeof a)throw new TypeError("predicate must be a function");for(var b,c=Object(this),d=c.length>>>0,e=arguments[1],f=0;d>f;f++)if(f in c&&(b=c[f],a.call(e,b,f,c)))return f;return-1}
forEach: function forEach() { [native code] }
indexOf: function indexOf() { [native code] }
join: function join() { [native code] }
lastIndexOf: function lastIndexOf() { [native code] }
length: 0
map: function map() { [native code] }
pop: function pop() { [native code] }
push: function push() { [native code] }
reduce: function reduce() { [native code] }
reduceRight: function reduceRight() { [native code] }
reverse: function reverse() { [native code] }
shift: function shift() { [native code] }
slice: function slice() { [native code] }
some: function some() { [native code] }
sort: function sort() { [native code] }
splice: function splice() { [native code] }
toLocaleString: function toLocaleString() { [native code] }
toString: function toString() { [native code] }
unshift: function unshift() { [native code] }

até a propriedade console.log length mostra 5, mas, por algum motivo, chamar a propriedade length retorna 0.

Editar:

A propriedade length da matriz está definida como 5, mas a propriedade length doproto é 0. A propriedade .length retorna o valor 0 sob oproto .