‘Tonight Show’ bandleader shows thanks to firefighters

? “Tonight Show” bandleader Kevin Eubanks led a 30-minute jam session for about three dozen representatives from fire departments that helped save his home during a recent wildfire.

Performing Wednesday on a temporary stage at a San Fernando Valley community college, Eubanks invited his audience and their families to call his office at NBC and arrange for tickets to “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

“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’ canyon neighborhood was threatened during the 25,000-acre Topanga fire, which began Sept. 28 in northwest Los Angeles.

At the fire’s peak, an estimated 3,000 firefighters from all over California and hundreds of police, sheriff’s and California Highway Patrol personnel battled the blaze, evacuated residents and controlled traffic.

Firefighters were widely praised for saving thousands of homes. Only three dwellings burned.