San Fernando Valley : Heroes Recall a Dramatic Rescue

Capt. Wayne Ibers talked about what it was like to be a hero Friday.

At a ceremony at the La Canada Flintridge fire station to honor several county firefighters for a variety of acts, Ibers recalled how rescuers, working feverishly, feared the worst for the man buried under the tons of rubble that had been Northridge Fashion Center’s parking garage.

Maintenance worker Salvador Pena had become pinned in the street sweeper he was driving when the structure collapsed during the Northridge earthquake. He was seriously injured, and the firefighters knew that digging him out would take hours.

“I didn’t think we were going to be able to get him out alive,” Ibers said.

Ibers and the others refused to give up. “I thought about my family; my wife was seven months’ pregnant,” said Firefighter Rich Meline. “And I thought about [the victim’s] family, and what they would go through if he didn’t make it.”

Seven hours later, they pulled free Pena, who credits the men with saving his life.

“I don’t feel like a hero,” Ibers said, shrugging. “This is part of my job.”

Also honored were two colleagues also involved in the rescue, Dave Norman and Ysidro Miranda; John Haugh, who rescued an 11-year-old boy from a shaft in Malibu; Collin Cook, who rescued a man from a 68-foot shaft in Valencia, and Larry Collins and Mike Layhee, who took part in the Valencia rescue and were also credited with saving two people after a building collapsed in Kern County.

Dave Thies received an award for rescuing several people after a multi-car accident on the San Bernardino Freeway, and Frank McCarthy and John Finnerty were honored for saving an elderly Malibu couple whose home was being flooded. Also recognized was Eric Fetherston, who rescued a motorist during a flood in Placerita Canyon.

Ibers said he recently saw Pena--who feared he would never walk again--on TV, walking. “It felt great,” Ibers said.