An arsonist torched the doomed Brookshire Motel along Route 66 in Tulsa for a fourth time in less than two years Monday night.
According to a report in the Tulsa World, the fire first was reported at 5:45 p.m.
No one was in the abandoned motel at the time, and no injuries were reported.
A witness said a green, four-door Ford pickup left the parking lot about the time of the fire. Anyone who saw the truck is urged to call the Tulsa Fire Department’s arson hotline at (918) 596-2776.
The Tulsa Route 66 Commission abandoned plans to find a buyer to save the property shortly after a body was found during the third fire in May. The commission, however, stated it wanted to save the motel’s neon sign.
The city declared the property a nuisance more than two years ago. Code violations went unaddressed, and the city incurred more than $10,000 in abatement charges. The commission in 2018 tried to find a buyer to save the motel and implored the city to hold off on condemnation as long as possible.
According to Tulsa County property records, the motel’s owner is David Silver of Plano, Texas.
Rhys Martin, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, talked to a descendant of the Brooks family, who owned the motel for many years starting in 1950. That led to this story.
(Image of the Brookshire Motel neon sign in Tulsa in 2005 by Tom Baddley via Flickr)
Any comment seems pointless. A pity the person who saw the pickup leave did not take its number. Whether it has been the same arsonist each time is obviously unknown. That this attack happened in normal working hours suggests a local person on or just off a normal route. So look out for local green pickups. “Tulsa Fire Department’s arson hotline”……..