Engine 64
Why 64?
Engine 64’s history is very unique. Although 8x8 does equal 64, that is not how Engine 64 receives its designation. Prior to 1971, Engine 64 was Engine 3 and operated out of a fire station located at Belmont Avenue and Allen Street in Charlotte’s Belmont neighborhood. When that station was closed, Engine 3 was moved to Station 8, becoming Engine 24.
Engine 24 was the fifth double engine station in the city (along with stations 1, 4, 10, and 11 whose second engines were numbered 20 - 23 respectively). In 1974, when Station 20 opened, the 20-series engines were changed to 60-series engines to accommodate the increasing number of stations. During a fiscal crisis in 1979, the department proposed closing the three remaining 60-series engines as a cost cutting measure. The city council agreed to close all of the engines, but “refused to take Engine 64 out of service because of [earlier] promises made to the Belmont neighborhood when old Station 3 was closed.” As a result, Station 8 remains the only double engine house in the city of Charlotte.
Information in this paragraph was gathered from the 1999 edition of Charlotte Fire Department History.
