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Yaroslav, an anesthesiologist, went to the de-occupied South of Ukraine, to villages hosting no hospitals or doctors, past mine-studded fields — so that residents there would not face diseases alone. Oleg, a volunteer rescuer, gathered a team of like-minded persons and left for Kherson after the HPP was blown up to help people. Svitlana, a volunteer firefighter from the Ivano-Frankivsk region, rushed with her team to calls – even earlier than the fire brigade from the neighboring community to help her fellow villagers in time.
You can volunteer in different ways. We asked three volunteers about their reasons for getting involved in rescue and help missions in their free time. And we also prepared a short reference on the voluntary movement in the State Emergency Service, so that all interested person could join.
Being a doctor means saving people and acting promptly
Yaroslav Botiuk
is a volunteer doctor, head of the anesthesiology and intensive care department of the Ternopil Regional Phthisiopulmonology Medical Center
My journey to medicine began after I finished 7th grade when I entered a lyceum with advanced medical study including extra biology, physics, and chemistry lessons. And also basic medicine-related subjects. The profession of a doctor has always attracted me as it could enable me to help people, and save them.
I could not choose one profile area in medicine, I liked all of them! Therefore, anesthesiology suited me quite well – it requires a profound knowledge of different fields. Also, there is often not enough time to make decisions, so one has to act promptly. I have the required psychotype, so I love my job.
When my family doctor told me about volunteering with the NGO Casers as part of the “Spilnodiia” Program, I didn’t hesitate, I knew it was just the thing I needed. I used to travel and go camping a lot, so I’m quite used to uncomfortable conditions. Also, I was one of the soccer ultras, so I’m ready for controversial situations.
First, I filled out the form on the website, and then they called me and asked if I was available on certain dates. They never tell you the destination – for your safety. Then we take an ambulance to the village from the collection point. People get not only a free examination but also medicines – we have these with us and share them if needed. If the problem is serious, we refer a person to other doctors. Before the trip, I took special training from the NGO Casers – a series of videos about ways to behave in the de-occupied territories, the existing dangers, and ways to communicate with people.
So, in the summer of 2023, I joined the volunteer doctors — we travel to de-occupied, but still dangerous places. I examined patients in the villages of Davydiv Brid, Vysoke, Lymanets in the Kherson Region. Usually, there are 5 of us on the team – me as a general practitioner, a nurse, an ultrasound specialist, a psychologist, and a driver.
We must help each other – there are our people in the de-occupied territories
I realize that such trips pose a threat to my life and health. However, there have been no particularly threatening situations, only weird ones. For example, once we were driving on a country road with mined fields on both sides, it was impossible to pull over or turn around. Suddenly, we noticed a trailer with some cylinders in front – and not a soul around. We didn’t risk going any further – our driver had quite an experience of traveling to front-line areas, I know that he took people out of the Bakhmut region. So we drove backward and we returned to the junction to continue on a longer road, but without any unknown trailers in front of us.
We drive so that we can return before dark, and so far we always have time to examine all those willing. We agree with the local authorities on the place to examine people. Of course, there were no hospitals in those villages, so we stayed in rural medical posts, if possible. People here have no access to quality medicine. Therefore, we reach them.
I believe a person should find their answers to whether such trips were worth it. The people there, in the de-occupied territories, are the citizens of our country, the same Ukrainians as everyone else. Moreover, they need help. People lead their daily lives there – in difficult conditions, without hospitals, in destroyed houses, and under threats of shelling. We must help each other.
I realize that few are attracted to the opportunity to work for free given the risks included. But the possibility to make their lives better matters to me, so I do what I do.
I have my main job, but when I receive a fire alarm on my mobile phone, I rush out
Svitlana Shysh
is a volunteer firefighter, a starosta in the Vynohrad Starosta district, Ivano-Frankivsk region
Earlier, I worked in a pension fund for 10 years, now I am a village starosta. I am happy with my work because I can help people. I really believe it’s my best occupation. There are few people here – 1,457 per Starosta district. It includes two villages, Vynohrad and Khvalyboha.
Due to my position, I always come to the fire scene to draw up acts and protocols. And now I do the same also as a firefighter. A year ago, we decided to create a voluntary fire brigade, VFB. We wished to adopt the experience of neighboring Poland – they have a demand for such volunteer teams. We won a grant and got a uniform and everything we needed. Now we have the Rosokhach communal facility “Volunteer Fire Brigade”.
There are 12 people in VFB – we take duty over phones. We all have our main jobs, but if we get a fire alarm over the mobile phone, the driver and assistant go immediately. We are not paid for this, except for some bonuses, if there is a difficult fire but we manage to fight it. This year, we were extinguishing the harvester in the field, and we did it quickly, so the company granted us a monetary reward for saving the expensive equipment.
We already have two fire brigades in the village – one LFB (local fire brigade) with 4 drivers, which was established about 20 years ago, and us. It is convenient as it helps to respond faster. Just imagine, one barrel of water is enough for 7 minutes – and what is it for a fire? Nothing. So when several vehicles arrive, water can be delivered promptly if the fire is large-scale.
I wish to become a driver, and all I have to do is to get a C category
Of course, the work is dangerous, but I think that there is no occupation inheriting no risks at all. Moreover, our team is not alone, we always have the support of professional firefighters from Horodenka. If a person reports a fire, first they receive a call in Ivano-Frankivsk, then they report to Horodenka (25 km from us), and the latter report to us. So we manage to get there first. If the fire is small, we can put it out ourselves.
Nowadays, people burn grass a lot, so we get a lot of calls. There was such a case recently when an 85-year-old woman set fire to a small pile in her yard but there was a strong wind, so the fire spread to the neighbor’s corn, and we had to put it out.
We had online training, but we continue our learning – we went to free training in Horodenka, as well as to Lviv for first aid courses.
With this team now, I am more involved in organizational assistance – at the fire scene, I call an ambulance or a gas service and help the owners remove the fire debris. But I want to try and be a driver – I have 20 years of driving experience, but I need to undergo training for the C category. These are my plans.
A rescuer is not just expecting a fire to happen – in fact, they are constantly in danger
Oleg Dibrova
is a rescue volunteer, Kyiv
Before the full-scale invasion, I dealt with vehicles: maintenance and sales. On Facebook, I saw a message about rescuers’ courses held by the NGO Volunteer under the State Emergency Service, organized by East Europe Foundation. I decided to apply, and in the spring of 2023, I took them.
The courses lasted two weeks, classes were held every day until lunch time. We had not only theoretical training but also practiced in smoke and heat chambers, with special breathing equipment, and climbed towers. Such courses were held within the framework of the “Spilnodiia” Program. Its purpose is to support the volunteer movement in Ukraine and to make the occupation of a volunteer rescuer more and more prestigious.
I liked to feel the lives of rescuers. Honestly, I didn’t know much about all this before. There is an opinion that a firefighter is just waiting for a fire, but in fact, life is in full swing there. It seemed as if we saw everything from the inside. After all, rescuers are constantly in danger, even before a full-scale war. These are people who go and help, do no cheating, and support each other. And they see horrors every day, which is not only about war but also about everyday things: fires, deaths. We never see it, but they do.
They rescued animals in Kherson and transported aid across Ingulets
When the Russians blew up the Kakhovskaya HPP, I wrote in the chat of our course group – at 9 p.m. they started discussing the trip, and at 5 a.m. the next day they had already left Kyiv. Everything was quick: they gathered a humanitarian team with my friends and neighbors volunteering to help. They were looking for organizations from Kherson that could direct them.
I took a car, and there were six teams together, we were driving through Odesa and the road was difficult, we did not know the route, so Olha, the organizer of the courses at the NGO Volunteer, directed us via phone.
On site, we helped in whatever way was necessary – transported aid across the Ingulets River, and gathered cats and dogs along the way. Our volunteer IDs helped us, we were allowed to go where ordinary people weren’t. After all, we were trained and knew items not to touch and ways to behave. We were in the Korabely area – there was no electricity or water then.
We stayed there for about a week, and later we did another trip. After all, even when the water receded, people needed support as everything was knee-deep in silt, so we helped dismantle houses that were flooded up to the roof.
While we were there, we heard so many stories, creepy ones. There was one woman, the Russians locked her in the basement for 60 or 70 days because she hid our soldiers and fed them. They found this out and punished her.
The main work is done by people with no heroic badges
There is one thing that helps me when making decisions, it’s realizing whether anything is worth doing or not. It’s simple – I just ask myself the question: if everyone acts the way I do, will the world become a better place? After all, such small steps bring our victory and the reconstruction of Ukraine closer.
Of course, there are heroes engaged in deeds of valor, and their actions inspire people. But the main work is done by ordinary people with no heroic badges. They just do their jobs in small steps. I believe in this and observe the related confirmation – my small step to take courses turned into getting to know people from the group, then organizing a trip, going to provide assistance, and meeting more inspiring people.
Of course, it is dangerous there, but I am not alone, there are many other people, like-minded ones. So if everyone takes a small step, everything will change for the better. Honestly, I even regret that there are no additional courses, I would like to learn more, they are useful. So we took courses and were able to help many people.
Ways to help rescuers and become a volunteer for the State Emergency Service
Viktor Vitovetskii,
director of the Department of Organization of Civil Protection Measures, State Emergency Service
Ways to volunteer for the State Emergency Service
The following volunteering options for the Service are available:
What are volunteer fire brigades?
VFB (volunteer fire brigades) movement began to develop long before the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into Ukraine. The State Emergency Service has developed training programs for them — three weeks of theoretical studies (which can also be taken remotely) and a week of practical work. Each region has its educational institution under the State Emergency Service, so volunteers also study there, alongside with the professionals employed in the service. Their program is a bit simplified.
International donor organizations help the State Emergency Service in administrative matters — they attract potential listeners, create groups, and pay for training. For example, East Europe Foundation has the “Spilnodiia” Program, which was created purposefully for the volunteer movement development in Ukraine. Within the framework of this program, the foundation supports, in particular, volunteer firefighters and rescuers.
There are more than 900 fire and rescue units in Ukraine. It seems that this number is enough, but not all settlements are located equally close to fire brigades. There are places the fire engine takes more than 40 minutes to reach — and that is a very long time. The standard is 20 minutes. That is why the State Emergency Service is interested in communities having their voluntary units — because they can be the first to arrive at the fire scene. Even a five-minute delay to the fire scene affects the consequences. It happens that even the state brigade returns without reaching the destination because the colleagues have managed on their own.
Uniform for volunteer firefighters
How many volunteers are there in Ukraine and European countries
There are more than 600,000 volunteers in neighboring Poland. This is a very large community, it has been establishing over decades and even centuries. Therefore, the State Emergency Service has a rather ambitious goal — to reach these indicators. But a lot depends on the willingness of society.
In Germany, the number of volunteer firefighters is even more impressive – there are 1.2 mln of them.
What are the statistics in Ukraine? We have over 1,000 active local volunteer fire brigades. It means about 7,000 volunteers and employees. All of them get the full support of the State Emergency Service — the dispatchers report an emergency and the VFB can help in time.
And what does the law say?
There were many gaps in the by-laws adopted before the war. For example, it was set that a volunteer should be a person with a valid military service book. However, most of such candidates were mobilized or injured and could no longer physically participate.
Therefore, a major change was required. The regulation on volunteering states that a volunteer must work outside the emergency area. Which contradicts the very concept of rescue volunteers. Therefore, the State Emergency Service rules were adjusted – a volunteer should be involved outside the area, if they did not receive the appropriate training.
Currently, a rescue volunteer can be a person from the age of 18 and capable of performing the related activities for health reasons.
What are voluntary brigades on civil protection issues?
These are brigades dealing with dismantling debris and cleaning — they require no special qualifications and are created only for specific situations.
When a full-scale war began, many people turned to the authorities and the State Emergency Service with similar questions: how can I help? Therefore, a special form was added to the State Emergency Service website so that anyone could leave their contacts and be involved in dismantling debris in their settlements.
But it is dangerous to let unprepared people into disaster sites. So the State Emergency Service has developed a training program – a very short one, lasting 2 hours. It is similar to a briefing, the employee explains the basic safety measures and the things awaiting a person in the emergency area. As a rule, this is done just before the operations commence.
There are also two-week courses – a more advanced program for those who wish to get a deeper study. Volunteers there learn the basics of first aid, ways to deal with explosive objects, and ways to act in case of fire and threats of structural collapse.
After the de-occupation, the amount of work increased — many volunteers joined public organizations. For example, Dobrobat is a voluntary construction battalion. It unites several thousand people in different regions – Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia. They have already helped rebuild houses for 2,700 families. And they restored 80 objects of social infrastructure.
The article was prepared within the framework of the “Volunteers: Working for Peace” special project. It includes several stories about volunteers – firefighters, doctors, and rescuers.
The special project was implemented as part of the “Spilnodiia” Program, executed by East Europe Foundation in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research and NGO Together Against Corruption and financed by the European Union.
Translated from the original article on #ShoTam
You can watch a video about Halyna Melnychuk: a postwoman in the past, but now a village starosta and a volunteer firefighter here.