Veteran actor Diane Farr currently portrays Division Chief Sharon Leone in the CBS series “Fire Country.” Years before, she also played Laura Miles, a firefighter with the New York Fire Department, on the FX drama “Rescue Me.”
Neither role prepared her for what it’s like to battle an actual wildfire.
“I’m not a firefighter,” Farr said while calling from her La Cañada home. “That reminds me of that line, ‘I’m not a doctor but I play one on TV.’ I don’t fight fires. I’m an actress. People know me from ‘Rescue Me.’ Before ‘Rescue Me’ I played a smokejumper (in the 2002 film ‘Superfire’) and I had to learn to fly a Cessna.
“None of my jobs were easy. I’ve had some intense work, but it pales compared to what the actual firefighters do. But what I experienced with the fires in January, well, I have so much respect and empathy for what firefighters do. It was such a frightening experience.”
Farr and her family didn’t lose their home, but they had to evacuate for eight days. “If the wind blew another way it could have been us and our homes,” Farr said. “But it wasn’t our homes and so many people lost homes and then so many homes were saved because of the firemen. It’s the toughest job imaginable.
“I have driven by wildfires and some were so close to our set. I feel like I know the rush when it comes to firefighting. At times I’ve seen the fires, I want to help but I don’t actually know how to do anything. When the fires started in January, I felt helpless. We all felt helpless. I couldn’t help but worry for the firefighters.”
Farr possesses that fear even though she has played a firefighter often enough to be typecast. “When you become an actor, you never know what you’ll be playing years from now,” Farr said. “For whatever reason I’ve played a firefighter a few different times. I played a structural firefighter on ‘Rescue Me.’ I trained in three different firehouses. Back then (during the aughts) it wasn’t easy finding a woman in a firehouse.”
Her role as a smokejumper in “Superfire” gave Farr an idea of what it’s like for firefighters who battle wildfire blazes. “It’s wild playing a firefighter who jumps out of planes for wildfires,” she said. In “Fire Country,” which debuted in 2022, Farr plays a wildland firefighter. “I enjoy what I do but I’m just acting.”
She hopes more folks donate to the Cal Fire Benevolent Foundation (calfire.foundation) to support firefighters. The foundation provides funds for immediate, life-sustaining assistance to firefighters and their families who have suffered debilitating injury or loss of life.
“We should help support firefighters and support the stations,” Farr said. “If you go into California fire stations, they’re incredibly rundown. There’s no money to fix broken windows or the firetrucks. The people saving lives have a hard job. The LAFD used all of the overtime for the rest of the year fighting the fires in January. What’s going to happen during the fire season? It’s frightening since Los Angeles is feeling like Arizona.”
Despite the heat and the fires, Farr, who was born and raised in New York City, is happy living in the Los Angeles area. “It’s not just home but it’s where the work is for actors,” she said. “I was incredibly fortunate to get cast in ‘Rescue Me.’ At that time there was just very little work for an actress in New York. There were more spots on the New York Yankees than there were for actresses in New York television. When I did work in New York, it was me and all guys. I didn’t think about makeup and hair. But that was then. Now I’m out here in Los Angeles. I love it here. I appreciate the opportunity to work and I appreciate the firefighters, who help make us safe.”
