Tulsa’s only fire station on Route 66, Fire Station 30, was rededicated this week as Fire Station 66 with a splashy new logo and renaming its trucks Engine and Ladder 66, with “Keepers of the Mother Road” across their cabs.
Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, city officials and Route 66 enthusiasts attended the rededication ceremony Thursday at the station, which is near 145th East Avenue on 11th Street (aka Route 66) on Tulsa’s far east side.
The Tulsa World explained how Fire Station 66 came about:
Capt. Jim Moseby, who attended nearby East Central High School and spent his nearly 25-year career at the east Tulsa station, came up with the idea.
Moseby said other attractions, such as Mother Road Market and the Route 66 Rising sculpture, helped spur discussions in September.
“Everything that’s been going on has brought this attention to Route 66, and it’s not something I ever really thought twice about,” Moseby said. “Not until here just two months ago, I took my youngest son on a trip through parts of Oklahoma on Route 66.
“That awareness is starting to pick up, and we’re excited about what all that means for Tulsa.”
Here’s the full 17-minute news conference from Thursday:
Here are some photos from the event:
KRMG radio in Tulsa also did an extended story about it:
Fire Station 66 has its own Facebook page, Keepers of the Mother Road. Here is its great-looking logo:
The station is selling T-shirts and ballcaps with the logo but sold out of them during the rededication Thursday. It will get a new supply of those, along with challenge coins, by Jan. 30.
(Image from the Tulsa Fire Station 66 rededication and its logo from the city of Tulsa and Fire Station 66 on Facebook)
Bravo to the Keepers of the Mother Road fire fighters & station!