April 26 marks thirty years since the terrible date for our country and other former republics of the Soviet Union - the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The world remembers the consequences of this tragedy and "reaps" to this day. More than 115 thousand people were evicted from the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant. In December 2003, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a decision to proclaim April 26 as the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Radiation Accidents and Disasters. Today, on the day of commemoration of the events at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, first of all, I would like to talk about those people who were the first to fight a terrible and previously unknown disaster - a fire at a nuclear reactor. We are talking about fire brigade employees who are no longer alive. All of them received colossal doses of radiation and died, giving their lives in order for others to live.
On that terrible night, from 25 to 26 April 1986, 176 people worked in the four blocks of the nuclear power plant. These were the employees on duty and repair workers. In addition, 286 builders were on two blocks under construction - construction was proceeding at an accelerated pace and it was necessary to complete it as early as possible, so the workers worked on night shifts. At 1 hour 24 minutes, two powerful explosions were heard in the fourth power unit. The emerging ozone glow clearly indicated the colossal radiation emitted from the reactor. The explosion collapsed the reactor building. Two people were killed. The operator of the main circulation pumps, Valeriy Khodemchuk, was never found, his body was littered with the debris of two 130-ton drum separators. An employee of the commissioning enterprise, Vladimir Shashenok, died of a spinal fracture and burns to the body at 6.00 in the Pripyat medical unit.
Already at 1 hour 28 minutes, a guard of the paramilitary fire brigade No. 2, guarding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, arrived at the site of the accident - the fourth unit of the nuclear power plant. The combat crew consisted of 14 firefighters, commanded by the chief of the guard, lieutenant of the internal service Vladimir Pavlovich Pravik (1962-1986). The Nachkar was a very young man, 23 years old. In 1986 he was supposed to be 24 years old. Life was just beginning, Lieutenant Pravik had a young wife and daughter. Four years before the disaster, in 1982, he completed his studies at the Cherkassy fire-technical school of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and was released with the rank of lieutenant of the internal service. Pravik was appointed chief of the guard in the paramilitary fire department number 2 of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Kiev Regional Executive Committee, which specialized in protecting the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from fires.
Under the command of Pravik, HPC-2 firefighters began to extinguish the roof of the turbine hall. However, the forces of the guard of the 2nd HPV were clearly not enough to fight the fire. Therefore, already at 1 hour 35 minutes, personnel and equipment of the SVPCH-6 guard from Pripyat arrived at the scene - 10 firefighters under the command of the chief of the guard, lieutenant of the internal service Viktor Nikolaevich Kibenko (1963-1986). Like Vladimir Pravik, Viktor Kibenok was a very young officer. The 23-year-old lieutenant of the internal service only in 1984 graduated from the same thing as Pravik from the Cherkasy fire-technical school of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs,after which he was assigned as the head of the guard of the 6th militarized fire department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Kiev Regional Executive Committee, which was engaged in protecting the city of Pripyat from fires.
By the way, Kibenok was a hereditary firefighter - his grandfather and father also served in the fire brigade, his father had state awards for his courage in extinguishing fires. Victor inherited the courage of his older relatives. Kibenk's people started fighting the fire on the roof by climbing the outer fire escapes.
At 1 hour 40 minutes, the head of the paramilitary fire department No. 2, which guarded the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Major of the Internal Service Leonid Petrovich Telyatnikov (1951-2004), arrived at the scene. Unlike Kibenko and Pravik, Telyatnikov was not a native of Ukraine. He was born in Kazakhstan, in the Kustanai region, and therefore entered the Sverdlovsk fire-technical school of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1968, from which he graduated with honors. Then he graduated from the Higher Engineering Fire-Technical School in Moscow, for some time he worked in the fire brigade of Kustanai. In 1982 Telyatnikov was transferred to the Kiev region of the Ukrainian SSR, where he began serving in the fire department that guarded the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In 1983 he was appointed head of the paramilitary fire brigade No. 2 for the protection of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. When the accident happened, Telyatnikov was on vacation, but in a matter of minutes he got ready and rushed to the crash site. Under his personal leadership, reconnaissance and extinguishing of the fire were organized.
Despite the fact that the firefighters did not have dosimeters, they perfectly understood that they were working in an area of high radioactive radiation. But for the officers and firefighters of the HPV-2 and SVPCh-6, there was no other choice - after all, they considered it their duty and a matter of honor to engage in battle with the consequences of a terrible explosion. The fire extinguishing lasted up to 6 hours 35 minutes. For five hours of fighting a terrible fire, the firemen's guards eliminated the main combustion centers on an area of about 300 square meters. The leadership of the fire brigade, who arrived at the scene of the accident, was well aware that the firemen who were the first to fight the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were practically suicide bombers. They received extremely high doses of radiation and needed prompt medical attention, although she could hardly help them. Already in the first half of the day on April 26, the crews of the firefighters and their officers were sent for treatment to Moscow. Among those sent for treatment were Telyatnikov, Pravik, Kibenok, and other firefighters SVPCH-2 and SVPCH-6.
- a monument to firefighters - liquidators of the Chernobyl accident
On May 10, 1986, a sergeant of the internal service Vladimir Ivanovich Tishura (1959-1986), who served as a senior firefighter in the SVPCH-6 in Pripyat, died in a Moscow hospital. Lieutenant Vladimir Pavlovich Pravik, who received an extremely high dose of radiation, was sent to the 6th clinical hospital in Moscow. Two weeks after the disaster, on May 11, 1986, he passed away. Lieutenant of the internal service Pravik was only 23 years old, he had a young wife Nadezhda and daughter Natalya. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 25, 1986, for courage, heroism and selfless actions shown during the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Lieutenant of the internal service Pravik Vladimir Pavlovich was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
On the same day, May 11, 1986, Viktor Nikolaevich Kibenok died in the 6th clinical hospital in Moscow. The 23-year-old lieutenant of the internal service, Kibenk, who received an extremely high dose of radiation, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 25, 1986 for courage, heroism and selfless actions shown during the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Lieutenant Kibenko has a young wife Tatiana.
Two days later, on May 13, 1986, the commander of the SVPCH-2 department, senior sergeant of the internal service Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko (1961-1986), also died in the hospital. The twenty-five-year-old firefighter was a master of sports of the USSR. He took the most direct part in extinguishing the fire. The pregnant wife of Vasily Ignatenko, Lyudmila, did not leave her husband in the hospital and, having received a dose of radiation, lost her child. Vasily Ignatenko was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In 2006, he received the posthumous title of Hero of Ukraine. On May 14, 1986, a sergeant of the internal service Nikolai Vasilyevich Vashchuk (1959-1986), who served as the commander of the guard section of the 2nd SVHF for the protection of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, died in the hospital. On May 16, 1986, the senior sergeant of the internal service Nikolai Ivanovich Titenok (1962-1986), a firefighter of the SVPCH-6 in Pripyat, died. He is survived by his wife Tatyana and son Seryozha.
Major of the internal service Leonid Petrovich Telyatnikov was more fortunate than his colleagues. He also received a high dose of radiation, but was able to survive. A boxer, winner of the championship of the Sverdlovsk Fire-Fighting Technical School, Telyatnikov was a very strong physically man. Perhaps this saved him. Like Kibenok and Pravik, Major Telyatnikov was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After treatment in Moscow, he moved back to the Ukrainian SSR - to Kiev, continued service in the Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Perhaps it was Major Telyatnikov, who was in charge of extinguishing the fire on the roof of the fourth block, who became the most famous "Chernobyl" not only Soviet, but also international scale. Major Leonid Telyatnikov was even received at her residence by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The British Union of Firefighters presented Leonid Petrovich with a medal "For Courage in a Fire". It was Telyatnikov who became almost the official representative of the firefighters who extinguished the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, representing them at international and domestic events.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Leonid Telyatnikov served in the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, and in 1995 he retired with the rank of Major General of the Internal Service - his health was undermined during the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident. Leonid Petrovich suffered from acute radiation sickness, he underwent surgery on his jaw, the face of the hero of Chernobyl was destroyed by a papilloma. In 1998 Telyatnikov became the head of the Voluntary Fire Society of Kiev. Leonid Petrovich died on December 2, 2004 from cancer. Leonid Petrovich has a wife, Larisa Ivanovna. One of Leonid Petrovich's two sons, Oleg, followed in his father's footsteps, graduating from a fire school. Another, Mikhail, became a lawyer.
In total, out of 85 firefighters who took part in the extinguishing, about 50 firefighters were exposed to high radioactive radiation and were hospitalized. Of course, the consequences of the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident subsequently affected the health and life expectancy of even those firefighters who were lucky enough to survive in the first months and years after the disaster.
- Major General Maksimchuk
Speaking about the liquidators of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, one cannot fail to mention the well-known figure of the domestic fire brigade - Major General of the Internal Service Vladimir Mikhailovich Maksimchuk. In the spring of 1986, Maksimchuk, then a lieutenant colonel of the internal service, served as the head of the operational-tactical department of the Main Fire Department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was included in the Government Commission for the Elimination of the Consequences of the Catastrophe and at the beginning of May 1986 was sent to Chernobyl to supervise the elimination of the consequences of the disaster. On the night of May 22-23, 1986, a terrible fire began in the premises of the main circulation pumps of the third and fourth blocks. As a result of the fire, a terrible catastrophe could occur, in comparison with which the events of April 26 would seem like flowers! And it was Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Maksimchuk who was directly responsible for extinguishing this terrible fire. The fire was extinguished for 12 hours. When it came to an end, Lieutenant Colonel Maksimchuk, who had received a radiation wound on his leg, could hardly stand. With radiation burns to his leg and respiratory tract, he was carried on a stretcher to a car and taken to the Kiev hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Fortunately, Vladimir Mikhailovich managed to survive. He even continued to serve, in 1990 he was promoted to Major General of the Internal Service, worked as First Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Fire Protection of the USSR. His last place of service was the position of head of the Moscow Fire Department, where he also did a lot to extinguish fires in the Russian capital. But the disease made itself felt. Eight years after the Chernobyl disaster, on May 22, 1994, General Maksimchuk died.
Elimination of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant took many years. It can be considered that it is actually not finished to this day. Three weeks after the accident, on May 16, 1986, at a meeting of the government commission, a decision was made on the long-term conservation of the power unit destroyed by the explosions. Four days later, the USSR Ministry of Medium Machine Building issued an order "On organizing the construction management at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant." In accordance with this order, work began on the construction of the shelter. About 90 thousand builders - engineers, technicians, workers, were involved in the grandiose construction, which lasted from June to November 1986. On November 30, 1986, the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was accepted for maintenance. However, despite the construction of the shelter, radiation contamination befell vast territories of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. In Ukraine, 41, 75 thousand square kilometers were polluted, in Belarus - 46, 6 thousand square kilometers, in Russia - 57, 1 thousand square kilometers. The territories of the Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula and Oryol regions were subjected to the greatest pollution in Russia.
Decommissioning of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant continues, according to open media sources, up to the present time. The Shelter structure, erected in 1986, is to be replaced with a new safe confinement - a multifunctional complex whose main task is to transform the Shelter into an environmentally friendly system. It is planned to completely decommission the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by 2065. However, in view of the destabilization of the political situation in Ukraine as a result of the Euromaidan, there are certain doubts that this work can be completed, especially in the political and economic conditions in which the Ukrainian state is today.
