NFPA Journal - Summer 2022 - 11

The enormity of their task cannot be overstated. As of midApril,
at least 75,000 civilian structures have been destroyed
in bombings across the country, including tens of thousands
of residences and hundreds of schools, hospitals, libraries,
and cultural buildings, according
to the Kyiv School of Economics,
which tracks the damage. As
of April 18, the United Nations
had confirmed the deaths of
nearly 2,000 Ukrainian civilians,
though the actual number, the
organization admits, is " likely to
be considerably higher. " Indeed,
regional officials have claimed
that as many as 22,000 civilians
may have already died in the battered
city of Mariupol alone.
On April 20, as Russian forces
massed for what appeared to be
another major assault on Eastern
Ukraine, I spoke with a top
SES official, General Volodymyr
Demchuk, director of the service's
NFPA.ORG/
UKRAINE
Listen to an
NFPA Podcast interview
with General
Volodymyr Demchuk,
director of the
Emergency Response
Department for the
State Emergency
Service of Ukraine.
Listen to an NFPA
Podcast interview
with Kevin Royle, the
founder and director
of the aid organization
Firefighter Aid Ukraine.
Learn more about
international aid
efforts to support
emergency
responders in
Ukraine.
Emergency Response Department. He provided a stirring
overview of the daily challenges his firefighters and rescuers
face from the onslaught of war, and what additional
resources are needed as the conflict enters its next phase.
General Demchuk spoke through a translator from a
studio in the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv. The conversation
has been edited for clarity.
Thank you for speaking to me. What is the current
situation faced by the Ukrainian State Emergency
Services?
Our country consists of 25 regions. Yesterday [April 19],
three of those regions were hit by missiles by the occupiers.
Each day, at least a couple of regions in our country are
hit by Russian forces. We have around 300 units involved
in responding to emergencies daily, which unfortunately
includes missile strikes on many civilian structures as well
as huge industrial facilities. All of our rescuers and service
members are on duty every single day and have been since
the beginning.
What roles do SES rescuers play in the war response?
Since February 24, when the full-scale invasion by Russian
forces began, we have put out more than 6,600 fires that
have resulted from the war. Apart from firefighting, we have
been designated to dismantle debris and rescue people who
are trapped. Today, work is going on in four regions to search
for people trapped under the rubble. Since the start of the
invasion, our services have rescued more than 800 people.
They have also removed the dead bodies of 897 people from
the ruined buildings.
Our service also has the task of demining-clearing explosive
objects. In total, since February 24, our demining units
have cleared more than 12,000 hectares [46 square miles] of
NFPA .ORG/JOURNAL * NFPA JOURNAL | 11
THE SES, WHICH NUMBERS
60,000 RESPONDERS ACROSS
THE COUNTRY, HAS TOILED
FOR TWO MONTHS UNDER
UNIMAGINABLE CONDITIONS.
MORE THAN 30 MEMBERS
HAVE BEEN KILLED IN ACTION
SINCE THE START OF THE WAR.
AT LEAST SIX HAVE BEEN TAKEN
PRISONER, AND NEARLY 100
HAVE BEEN INJURED.
http://www.NFPA.ORG/UKRANE http://www.NFPA.ORG/UKRANE http://nfpa.org/journal
NFPA Journal - Summer 2022

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