Vasily Ignatenko
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Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko was a Soviet firefighter who was among the first responders to the Chernobyl disaster.
Ignatenko during his term of conscripted service as a military firefighter
The School in Sperizh'e pictured in 2016.
The fire station apartments in Pripyat where Ignatenko lived, as they appeared in 2019.
Ignatenko fought fires on the roofs of the ventilation block and reactor three, the part of the structure seen here around and behind the striped ventilation stack
Leonid Telyatnikov
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Leonid Petrovych Telyatnikov was a Soviet, and later Ukrainian, fire brigade commander notable for his role in directing the early stages initial response to the Chernobyl disaster. Telyatnikov served
Vasily Ignatenko
…amid piles of ejected nuclear material, and soon began to experience the initial effects of acute radiation syndrome. Firefighters ordered by Major Leonid Telyatnikov to ascend the fire escape and assist met them halfway up as they struggled to descend, vomiting uncontrollably and unable to fully support themselves…
Leonid Telyatnikov
The President of the British Fire Services Association presenting the Order of Gallantry, for bravery, to Major Telyatnikov, the Commander of the Chernobyl Fire Brigade.
Chernobyl power plant reactor 4 02