The Santa Barbara Fire Department on Thursday presented three firefighters with awards of valor for a lifesaving rescue made during the Montecito debris flows.
Standing at the podium with medals around their necks, Capt. Kevin Hokom, engineer Matt Gritt and firefighter Alex Kargbo received the Stephen J. Masto Award of Valor for their acts of courage, bravery and heroism that are deemed above and beyond the call of duty.
“They are an inspiration to everyone working, and they set the bar high,” Santa Barbara City Firefighters Association representative Mark Kramer told more than 50 people gathered at Fire Station No. 1.
“This is a call that deserves the hero award.”
Hokom, Gritt and Kargbo were searching for survivors the morning of Jan. 9 after flash flooding triggered massive, deadly debris flows from the Thomas Fire burn area in the mountains above Montecito.
The crew focused on a debris pile, and was searching with additional rescuers.
“It was a scene of devastation — nothing was where it was supposed to be — all of the biggest trees were gone,” Hokom recalled. “We walked up in the mud and started searching any car that we found, any structure, and we were called over to a debris pile that was probably about 10 feet tall.”
The group of rescuers heard possible sounds and believed there was a victim in the mass of thick mud, boulders, fallen trees and damaged structures near Hot Springs and Olive Mill roads in Montecito.
“We could hear snoring inside of this big pile,” Hokom said.
Hokom found a leg and rescuers continued making progress toward freeing the rest of her.
“She wasn’t breathing, so there wasn’t a lot of time,” he said of the survivor. “At some point, when we were pulling the debris off, she had fallen completely underneath the mud.”
Gritt was lifting a heavy portion of a garage wall off of the pile, and Hokom and Kargbo were able to free the young victim.
“We didn’t have any special tools to dig in the pile,” Hokom said. “We started breaking off boards with our hands.”
Gritt took the girl from Kargbo and loaded her into a rescue Stokes basket.
Kargbo, Gritt and several other rescuers carried her about a quarter-mile through knee- to chest-deep mud to an ambulance. Kargbo rode along with her to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
“Over the next several days, she was on our minds,” Hokom said.
The survivor — 12-year-old Summer Corey — presented the three firefighters with the award during Thursday’s ceremony.
Her mother, Carie Baker-Corey, also was in attendance. Both were critically injured in the Montecito Creek debris flow, which killed Summer’s twin sister, Sawyer, and their 25-year-old stepsister, Morgan.
In all, 23 people died in the disaster that morning. The bodies of two children — 17-year-old Jack Cantin and 2-year-old Lydia Sutthithepa, both neighbors of the Baker-Corey family — remain missing.
At the event, Santa Barbara County Fire Department chaplain Jerry Gray led a moment of silence in honor of fallen first responders.
The Stephen J. Masto Award of Valor is named in the memory of Stephen Joseph Masto, a 28-year-old SBFD firefighter who died while working on the Camuesa Fire in Los Padres National Forest on Aug. 27, 1999.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.