Firefighters Get a Show of Thanks : Aftermath: Rancher hosts a barbecue for crew who saved his property. In Sherman Oaks, a concert benefits victims of the disaster.

Efforts to thank firefighters who saved homes and risked lives battling this year’s wildfires continued on Sunday, with a benefit concert staged by a Sherman Oaks woman and a barbecue in Santa Paula, where the main course was a pig that had been rescued from the blaze.

Mel Cummings, who lost 20 goats and a mobile home to fire, said it was the only way he could think of to show his gratitude to firefighters who battled the blaze when it spread to his 500-acre ranch on Wheeler Canyon Road.

“It’s a very little way of saying thanks, but we’re real grateful to them,” Cummings said. “At a time of crisis . . . I just never realized there was so much help.”

Cummings--whose ranch is populated by 200 to 300 cattle, goats, horses and other animals--said it all appeared in jeopardy on the morning of Oct. 27, when fire swept onto his land. If not for the efforts of his friends, boarders and the professional firefighters, the rancher said he could have lost much more.

“We had a lot of people helping out here,” Cummings said.

With the help of some of his boarders and friends Sunday, Cummings put out a spread of potatoes, salad, beans, corn, guacamole, chips and other items.

And for the main course?

“One of my pigs,” Cummings said with a chuckle. “That’s kind of ironic.”

Thumbing through a collection of snapshots taken during the fires, the rancher called attention to a picture of three large pigs being shooed away from the flames.

“I think that’s the one we’re having today,” he said playfully, pointing at one of the animals.

And while the chosen swine may have been less than thrilled to surrender its life as a form of pay-back, the firefighters who turned out with their families said they appreciated Cummings’ generosity.

“This is great,” Santa Barbara County firefighter Bob Bible said as he and some of his colleagues piled their plates high with food. “You know, when I was down in L.A. during the riots, it was the exact opposite. People were shooting at me.”

Ed Rodriguez, another Santa Barbara County firefighter, agreed that it is rare for people to go out of their way to thank men and women who are, technically, just doing their jobs.

“One of the guys called me on the phone and told me that one of the women here actually sought us out and asked if we could come to a little barbecue in our honor,” Rodriguez said. “This is great. You know, people don’t have to do this.”

While Cummings was thanking firefighters Sunday, Carol Maitland was trying to benefit some of the fire victims.

Maitland, of Sherman Oaks, organized a daylong benefit concert in The Livery courtyard in downtown Ventura that featured music and art exhibits.

The idea was to charge people $12 to enter the courtyard, $9 of which would be given to the American Red Cross to help fire victims. The only problem was that--because of a lack of publicity--few people showed up other than Maitland and a handful of musicians recruited for the event.

“Everybody came with good intentions and love in their hearts and that’s the main thing,” said Maitland, who wore a Red Cross button that read “Fire Hurts” on her chest.

She said she came up with the idea three weeks ago, when she and a friend from Ojai visited the courtyard, which features a newly opened coffeehouse and a collection of art galleries.

“We wanted to act quickly, because we wanted to get things going while there was still emotion about it,” she said. “We didn’t have time to do the publicity we should have. Experience is the best teacher.”