Fire Department Honors Heroes : Awards: Medal of Valor is given to 67 firefighters for actions during the Northridge quake and the Calabasas/Malibu fire.

The Los Angeles Fire Department, buffeted for much of the year by accusations of discrimination and other troubles, took time Thursday to spotlight its heroes.

Standing tall in full dress uniforms, 67 firefighters and paramedics were honored with the Medal of Valor, the department’s highest honor, for daring rescues in the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the devastating blaze that ravaged the San Fernando Valley in 1993.

“Your acts of bravery are impressive. Your acts of courage are a source of pride,” Mayor Richard Riordan told the rescuers and an audience of several hundred at a Downtown hotel. “I’m proud of you and all Angelenos are proud of you.”

The Medal of Valor ceremony, which honors firefighters’ efforts in major disasters, was last held in the wake of the 1992 riots. It comes less than two months after the abrupt departure of former Fire Chief Donald O. Manning, who retired amid allegations that the department tolerated racial and sexual bias. The department now faces steep budget cuts and a likely political feud between Riordan and the city Fire Commission.

Firefighters acknowledged the department’s travails, but focused on the positive during the ceremony, recounting tale after tale of selfless attempts to save earthquake victims trapped beneath tons of rubble in early morning darkness. In many cases, officials noted, rescuers risked their lives crawling through unstable piles of collapsed concrete and broken glass.

“I think this shifts away the negative focus and lets people know what we actually do,” said Medal of Valor recipient Russell T. Rueda, a 17-year veteran of the department. Heroism, he said, “goes on every day.”

“We’re facing some reductions in staffing that really will affect our safety,” said Capt. Raymond L. Peterman, a 32-year veteran of the department who also received a medal. “The department reacted and reacted well. I’d just like to see the public support us.”

The event’s emcee, former Los Angeles Rams all-pro tackle Merlin Olsen, described the feats of the rescuers, including firefighters who responded to Buena Park Drive after the Northridge quake and found several crumbling houses that had slipped more than 100 feet down a steep hillside. Inside a house that had flipped upside-down, they located a 70-year-old man. Only two tree limbs prevented the home from breaking loose and tumbling down the hill.

Firefighters used a 16-foot ladder to rescue the man, who was uninjured. Hearing the calls of a woman trapped in a nearby home, rescuers dug a tunnel through the debris to locate her. Just as they discovered the trapped woman, she began slipping farther into the rubble. Firefighters quickly worked their way to the woman and freed her.

In another rescue, firefighters found a man trapped near a ruptured natural gas line in a crumbling Woodman Avenue building. With fumes spewing into the face of the victim, who was in danger of being asphyxiated, rescuers used a chain saw to cut through the debris and extracted the man in less than five minutes.

Near the earthquake’s epicenter, firefighters responded to a crushed three-story apartment complex, in which the second and third floors had collapsed onto the ground level. Using pickaxes and hand tools, they broke through the first floor area until they found a man pinned under several electrical cables and appliances.

“Hearing their voices just lifted my spirits,” Alan Hemsath, the 38-year-old man rescued from beneath his refrigerator, said Thursday. “I knew that if the Fire Department was there, I’d be getting out.”

Two firefighters who saved a woman during the 1993 Calabasas/Malibu brush fires also received awards. Rescuers aboard a reconnaissance helicopter saw a woman who dived into her swimming pool as the blaze approach her home. Although she had avoided the fire, she began suffering from hypothermia, and the helicopter crew had to land in 60 m.p.h. winds to rescue her.