Bandleader Says Thanks to Those Who Fought Fire

For “Tonight Show” bandleader Kevin Eubanks, Wednesday was a day for giving public thanks to those who worked to save his Bell Canyon neighborhood during the recent 25,000-acre Topanga fire.

From a temporary stage at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Eubanks and crew held a 30-minute jam session for about three dozen representatives of the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Los Angeles and Simi Valley police departments, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, both L.A. and Ventura counties’ fire departments, animal control agencies and the California Highway Patrol.

“You all help everybody, every day. And it’s not until you save our property or save our lives that we think, ‘Oh, I want to say thanks,’ ” said Eubanks, who wore a blue LAFD baseball cap. “It’s a little embarrassing, because I never thought to do something like this until I saw just how close the flames came to my door.”

Eubanks then invited those in the audience and their families to call his NBC office to arrange for tickets to “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

“We want everybody to know they’re appreciated, and not just by the businesses,” he said. “Some of the guys in the band live in Calabasas and Agoura.... Every day that you work, you’re doing something good for other people.”

The region’s largest brush fire of the season began Sept. 28 near the 118 Freeway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard and quickly charred open areas in Chatsworth, Calabasas and in Ventura County through Box Canyon, Bell Canyon and other unincorporated areas south of Simi Valley.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose 3rd District includes many of the areas affected by the fire, recounted flying above the blaze on the first night.

“When we got over Bell Canyon, it was literally surrounded on all sides by flame. What you were able to see when peering through the smoke was that just about every house had a firetruck [nearby] and the firefighters who were stationed between the homes and the blaze formed a human-and-water barrier.

“This was replicated all over the mountains north of the 101 Freeway. It was a remarkable thing to watch,” he said. “We are inspired by the heroic public-safety first responders from a multitude of jurisdictions.”

At the fire’s peak, an estimated 3,000 firefighters from throughout California and hundreds of police, sheriff’s and CHP personnel were involved in battling the blaze, arranging evacuations and controlling traffic.

Yaroslavsky presented the officials who attended with a proclamation of appreciation from Los Angeles County. They also received commendations from the city of Los Angeles, the city of Calabasas, the Foundation for Pierce College and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).

Calabasas Councilman Dennis Washburn, director of the Pierce College foundation, said he came up with the idea of the musical tribute after viewing Eubanks’ on-air pledge to perform “any time, anywhere” in support of the firefighters.

Washburn said it was fitting to hold the concert at the college’s first Halloween Harvest Festival. Next to the stage was a five-acre “maize maze” -- a giant puzzle made of a field of 9-foot-tall cornstalks cut into the shape of a firefighter with a hose, ladder and the words “LA Heros” visible from the sky.

The college hopes eventually to raise $3 million to build an agricultural education center at the 430-acre campus. So far, the festival has raised about half of the $100,000 that Pierce hopes the event will generate, said Larry Kraus, enterprise manager at the college.