More than a month after a five-alarm fire nearly destroyed their office building on South River Road, Prudential Verani Realtors served up a thank you for local fire and police departments.

Managers cooked pasta, while real estate agents catered to local firefighters and police on Nov. 14.

“Rarely does this ever happen,” said Bedford firefighter Aaron Lambert. “So, it’s really nice that they’re doing this for us.”

He added, “The food is great.”

On the menu were salad, “Spaghetti alla Bolognesa Verani” and dessert.

Gianni Verani said his family has a “cooking gene.” He and his sister, Margherita, run the business their father, Osvaldo, started in 1967.

“We thought it would be a nice gesture for these folks,” he said. “They served us when our building was burning down, so we thought we would get all of our employees together and feed them.”

Margherita Verani said she spent some time the weekend before preparing pasta sauce for the dinner.

“You don’t have to put a lot of hours into it to make a good Italian sauce,” she said. “All you need is love.”

The meatballs and sausage, though, were store bought. “That would’ve taken a lot of time,” Gianni Verani said. At the dinner, Realtor Jacqui McCartin acted as waitress and photographer. She has never been a waitress professionally, although she did work in a sandwich shop during college, she joked.

The day before the Sept 21 fire, McCartin bought a digital camera to take pictures of houses, she said.

After the fire started, she grabbed the camera from her car and took photos of the building burning.

“I was there when the building caught fire,” she said. “It’s a little chilling when you’re standing there and the building is burning down.”

During the dinner, McCartin’s pictures were played on a screen for everyone to watch.

The fire caused an estimated $1 million in damages. The five-alarm fire required about 50 firefighters from 10 local departments.

At the dinner, Bedford Fire Chief Scott Wiggin was honored with a plaque.

“You’re only as good as the people below you,” Wiggin said.

The day of the fire was a good day, because everyone got out safe, he said.

Debra Jarvis, managing broker, said she was happy that local departments got to spend an evening together.

“To me, they have said what’s really incredible, is that they’re all like family. But they never get together,” she said.