Malibu Says Thanks : Firefighters Get Celebrity Treatment

The long line of limousines, Jaguars and Rolls-Royces that generally line Pacific Coast Highway near Geoffrey’s restaurant in Malibu had unusual company Saturday afternoon: nine gleaming red fire engines, an ambulance and a battalion chief’s car.

And inside, on the patio overlooking the Pacific, dozens of uniformed firefighters, California Highway Patrol officers and sheriff’s deputies grinned and shrugged at each other.

They found themselves being filmed, photographed and interviewed by representatives of the media, from Cable News Network to Movieline magazine.

They sampled the special low-cholesterol, low-calorie cuisine that the restaurant had prepared: the cabbage salad, the veal with mushrooms and thyme, the meringues filled with fruit or chocolate mousse.

There they were, chatting amiably with movie and TV stars. Martin Sheen pulled a chair up to one of the umbrella-shaded tables; James Whitmore clapped a firefighter on the shoulder; Dick Clark stopped by to shake hands.

This was Malibu Duty, Part II: After the Fire.

The party seemed the most natural way for fire-plagued, celebrity-laden Malibu to thank the firefighters and other authorities based there for their work fighting two conflagrations that charred 11,400 acres in mid-October.

These brush fires marked the first time firefighters focused their efforts on saving buildings rather than on containing the rapidly spreading flames. Although damage was estimated at $1.3 million, fire officials and residents were pleased that relatively few structures were destroyed.

Geoffrey’s owner Harvey Baskin came up with the idea of a testimonial luncheon while he was driving along Pacific Coast Highway and looking at the blackened hillsides.

“I could not believe the char marks that came up to house after house and stopped just short of the structures,” Baskin said. “I thought, ‘We have to do something to show our appreciation.’ And after all, it doesn’t take much.”

So Baskin and his staff, along with officials from the Malibu Community Center on Point Dume, called fire chiefs, sent handbills to neighbors and made sure that famous locals would be on hand.

The honorees were overwhelmed. This was the first time in memory, even in Malibu, that they had been appreciated on such a lavish scale.

“This is a real change,” said Jim Cota, who transferred to Station 70 four months ago from South-Central Los Angeles. During his duty there, Cota had been thanked by grateful fire survivors who sent a card or a homemade cake.

But never before had he had the chance to discuss with actor Sheen matters ranging from Fire Department communications to the danger of abandoning a car in the face of approaching flames. All this while 10 photographers circled the table, setting off flashbulbs and shouting directions, and a couple of reporters took notes.