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Territorial Dispatch

Live Oak Fire Station Gets Mural

Jan 28, 2025 10:38AM ● By Shamaya Sutton

Rebecca Wallace puts the finishing touches on her mural at the Live Oak Fire Station in Live Oak on Jan. 15. Photo by Shamaya Sutton


LIVE OAK, CA (MPG) - In 2017, the city of Live Oak received its first documented mural by artist Rafael Blanco entitled “Railroading Away.”

Located on the back of the Live Oak Pharmacy, this 17-foot by 50-foot mural features a conductor peering out of a steam engine locomotive, a nod to the city's historical connection to the railroad industry.

Since then, the city’s public art initiative has been full steam ahead, aided by the establishment of the Murals of Live Oak (MOLO) project and collaborations between the City of Live Oak and Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture. The Murals of Live Oak project, initiated in 2016, aims to commission two to three exterior wall murals annually and so far, the goal seems to be on track.

In 2021, Yuba Sutter Arts reported a total of 20 murals had been completed and as of Jan. 15, another project can be added to that count.

“I have to finish this today so I can get the varnish going,” said Rebecca Wallace, as she added the finishing touches to her lion painting. “I started setting up last Monday and have been painting since about last Wednesday. The hardest part was probably the detail of the logo.”


Live Oak’s newest mural, completed by Rebecca Wallace on Jan. 15, located on the outer wall of the Live Oak Fire Station in Live Oak. Courtesy of Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture


Wallace is a Northern California-based artist and muralist with more than 25 years of experience. She has contributed significantly to public art in Yuba and Sutter counties, particularly the city of Live Oak, through several notable projects including the Live Oak Public Library Mural and 48-Hour Mural Marathon in 2018, the AT&T Building Mural in 2020 and the Yuba City Mural Marathon of 2024. Wallace was also commissioned to paint the first on-campus mural at Yuba College in Marysville in 2022.

“I really want to do a dog at some point,” said Wallace, who just recently adopted a dog. “If I could find a big wall for a big dog, I'd want to do a 20-to-30-foot dog painting.”

Live Oak’s new mural addition is featured on the outer wall of the Live Oak Fire Station 5 located at 2745 Fir St., Live Oak. Live Oak Station 5 is a fire station operated by the Sutter County Fire Department that provides fire protection for most of Sutter County's unincorporated areas, including Live Oak. The Sutter County Fire Department was formed in 1996 when the Live Oak, Sutter and Oswald-Tudor fire departments merged.

After hiring a friend to paint a mural inside the fire station, Battalion Chief Carlos Del Rio from Sutter County Fire Department said someone in the city informed him of an ongoing collaboration with Yuba Sutter Arts to help fund such projects within Live Oak.

“The original plan I believe was that we were just going to do the lion because obviously that's our mascot,” said Rio. “Then when I was made aware of (the collaboration), we implemented the logo for our station and then came up with the idea to do the American flag and then trying to integrate one of our lieutenant's last names that passed, Brain Baldridge.”

Baldridge, a lifelong resident of Yuba-Sutter, passed away in 2016 at age 54. According to his obituary, Baldridge served in the U.S. Army from 1980 to 1984 as a maintenance battalion. Afterward, Baldridge spent 30 years as a volunteer lieutenant for the Sutter County Fire Department and also worked for Bi County Ambulance as a service technician. Baldridge’s name will be honored and incorporated into the mural’s flag portion.


The logo of Live Oak Fire Station 5 displayed prominently in the center of Live Oak’s newest mural, completed by Rebecca Wallace on Jan.15. Photo by Shamaya Sutton


“It turned out a million times better than we thought it was going to be,” added Rio.

The left side of the fire station wall now features a male lion roaring in the savannah. The right side gives an up-close view of the American flag waving in the wind. The two images are separated by a larger-than-life depiction of the Live Oak Fire Departments logo, also featuring a lion.

“I didn't think it was going to come out as realistic as it looks,” said Rio. “If you look at our logo on the engines next to that, it’s perfect.”