The Northern California fires have changed our lives forever. But where would we have been without people like:

• Jake Lockler, whose quick thinking saved seven lives the first night of the Tubbs Fire?

• Jen Huot, a home supervisor at Sutter Hospital, who made the decision to evacuate the building and personally went up on the roof with a fire extinguisher;

• Preston Addison and his fellow farmers who made a stand to stop the advance of the Pocket Fire;

• Chris Diaz and his fellow officers who spent five hours knocking on doors and clearing out residents;

• Mason Williams, who arrived at his grandmother's home at 3 AM to evacuate her to safety. She would never have been able to escape the flames on her own!

• Art Perera, who took it upon himself to battle the Coffey (like Coffee) fires before the first responders could arrive;

• Gail Hughes, the manager of Carl's Jr. on Airport Blvd., who went out of her way to keep the restaurant open, so that the evacuees would have a place to go;

• Heather Irwin, restaurant columnist who created the nonprofit "Sonoma Family Meal" to bring families displaced by the fires together with hundreds of chefs who desperately wanted to help;

• and Kayla Cook, who networked, called, emailed and texted every possible shelter, center and space to help those with special needs.

KZST and Sam's For Play Cafe now salute these brave people, as well as the firefighters, volunteers, law enforcement officers, and many other unsung Hometown Heroes who kept us safe and gave us hope.