By FireRescue1 staff
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Firefighters from the Tahlequah Fire Department could soon get their 15 minutes of fame if the fire chief receives approval for the members to be featured in a commercial for the pasta sauce company Ragú.
It all started as a team-building exercise, TFD Station 1 Captain Jody Enlow shared with the Tahlequah Daily Press. The crew filmed themselves cooking with Ragú’s sauce, following recent clips from the company that say, “Cook like a mother!” Firefighter Anthony Margarit boasted in the video that he is, in fact, cooking like a mother. He later posted the video to his TikTok account.
Margarit’s brother-in-law emailed the video to Ragú, and a company representative contacted Margarit on TikTok.
“They were extremely appreciative and said they were going to send us a palette of Ragú, which we thought was really cool,” Enlow said. “Just a ‘thank you’ was really cool, and since then, they’ve asked for our permission to use the video.”
Now it’s up to the Tahlequah City Council to grant the approval, as the video shows TFD’s name and logo. The mayor and city attorney have approved the use of the video, and now Fire Chief Casey Baker will be going before the City Council in January for the final approval.
Tahlequah Mayor Sue Catron shared: “When the results of this team-building activity catches the eye of a national company and their use of the video has the potential to highlight Tahlequah in a positive way, that’s a rare opportunity. Kudos to our fire department and to Chief Baker. Attracting the attention of Ragú may not have been their intention, but their team-building efforts may have far-reaching results.”
Enlow added that they would like to hold a spaghetti dinner event using the sauces Ragú sent, with proceeds going toward their Tragedy Fund.