LAKE CASITAS : 2 to Be Nominated for Valor Awards in Rescue of Man, Baby

A reserve firefighter who ripped open a burning mobile home with his bare hands to rescue a man and his baby will be nominated for statewide medal of valor awards, authorities said last week.

Authorities also plan to nominate Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Campat for an award from the California State Firemen’s Assn. for risking his life by entering the smoke-filled trailer.

Campat and reserve firefighter Ken Wickersham went above and beyond their normal duties when they helped rescue 19-month-old Jerome Haberstitch and his father, Barry Haberstitch, from flames consuming their mobile home on March 1, Ventura County Fire Capt. Norm Plott said.

Both father and son were injured in the fire, which was sparked by a malfunctioning refrigerator. It was first noticed by the manager of the Casitas Mobile Home Park on Nye Road, near Lake Casitas. Manager Lia Brewer said she called 911 and informed Barry Haberstitch, who was at a party in another mobile home with his wife and two other children.

Haberstitch ran into the mobile home to rescue the baby but did not come out again, Brewer said.

Wickersham, who lives next door, could not enter the mobile home through the front door because of the flames, so he went to the front of the trailer, Plott said. Using his bare hands, he pounded through the sheet metal on the trailer and ripped layers of it off so he could reach the two victims, Plott said.

When firefighters arrived, they entered the trailer through the hole, Plott said. Firefighter John Spykerman found the victims while other firefighters went in with a hose to put out the flames, Plott said. But Spykerman needed help in pulling Barry Haberstitch, a large man, through the hole, Plott said.

Campat, who had been patrolling the area, jumped inside the smoke-filled trailer and helped carry the man out, Plott said.

Less than a minute later, Spykerman returned to the trailer and found and rescued the baby, Plott said.