Brad Paisley, Bonnie Hunt visit with Sonoma County first responders

Hours before they took the stage Saturday night in Rohnert Park, country music artist Brad Paisley and actress Bonnie Hunt visited the Glen Ellen Cal Fire station to shake hands and take pictures with about a dozen Sonoma Valley firefighters, acknowledging their tireless efforts in the face of unending wildland blazes.

Paisley, whose father was a volunteer firefighter in his home state of West Virginia, performed Saturday evening at the Green Music Center. The “Thicker Than Smoke” event, which kicked off Friday, served as a fundraiser for Sonoma Valley first responders who lost homes during last year’s North Bay wildfires.

During their visit, Paisley and Hunt thanked the local fighters, even as the state’s largest active blaze, the Mendocino Complex fires, churned across more of Lake County.

“It’s never been more obvious how heroic these guys are,” said Paisley, who was coming off appearances in Lincoln, California, and southern Oregon. “There’s been smoke at my last three gigs.”

The gathering at the fire station, located on Highway 12, was an opportunity for firefighters to share their stories with Paisley and Hunt.

“How many hours did you guys work without stopping?” Hunt asked of the October fires.

“Nine or 10 days,” said Jim Comisky of Sonoma Valley Fire & Rescue.

Comisky thanked Paisley and Hunt for stopping by the station.

“We look up to you guys, you know we all look at entertainers and musicians … it’s so heartwarming to have you take some time to come and say hello to these guys,” Comisky said.

“No, for us, we look up to you,” Paisley said.

Nancy Lasseter, co-?owner of Lasseter Family Winery, arranged the visit and helped organize the fundraising show. Paisley and Hunt said they toured some of the burn zones in Sonoma Valley as well as the devastation in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park, Fountaingrove and Larkfield neigborhoods.

“It’s different when you see it in person - all those lone mailboxes,” said Hunt. “It was biblical … the image of everything being wiped out. We realize how vulnerable we are to Mother Nature.”

A resident of Montecito, south of Santa Barbara, Paisley recalled Saturday how he was evacuated “off and on” for about six weeks last winter, at first driven from his home by the massive Thomas fire and then later by the devastating mudslides.

Paisley said he learned from the North Bay infernos that wildfires cannot be underestimated.

“The Thomas fire started 35 miles away from us - I instinctively started packing,” he said. “It’s a sad sort of fact of life these days.”

Lasseter, who invited Paisley and Hunt to Sonoma County for the “Thicker Than Smoke” event, recalled fleeing her Glen Ellen estate last October. Her husband, John Lasseter, the departing Disney executive, shared the couple’s evacuation story - how they took refuge in the Target parking lot in Petaluma and watched on his phone footage of the approaching fire from their security cameras.

Standing next to them in the parking lot were friends who lived across the street, and who watched their home burn down on Lasseter’s phone.

“It was rough, it was really rough,” he said.

More than a dozen firefighters and law enforcement officials in Sonoma Valley lost homes, according to Capt. Gary Johnson of the Sonoma Valley Fire & Rescue, who worked with Lasseter on the Thicker Than Smoke event.

Its largest contributors include Solairus Aviation of Petaluma, the Donald & Maureen Green Foundation, Jackson Family Wines and Lasseter Family Winery. All proceeds are going directly to first responders who lost their homes. They will be distributed through the Sonoma County Resilience Fund, overseen by the Community Foundation Sonoma County. Funds from the event will be designated for first responders.