Ukraine transforms firefighters into homeland defenders to help thwart Russian invasion

Transcript

00:00 All hands on deck in Ukraine's defense of the homeland against the Russian invasion going on for the last year and a half.

00:06 Firefighters in the All-Ukrainian Environmental League have received training and equipment,

00:11 care of the U.S. Forest Service who've stepped in to transform the firefighters into homeland defenders.

00:18 As we hear more from VOA's Anne Rice.

00:21 Okay, this one is mine.

00:27 Special vests, helmets and gloves. Volunteer firefighters here in the Rassosha community in the Khmelnytsky region of Ukraine

00:35 are trying on firefighter gear gifted to them by the U.S. Forest Service.

00:41 Thanks to the U.S. Forest Service, we were able to get some vital equipment like motor pumps,

00:50 chainsaws, walkie-talkies and specialized coats, boots, gloves and helmets for all the volunteer firefighters.

00:57 The Rassosha community is made up of 26 villages and is home to 11,000 people.

01:07 It's where the All-Ukrainian Environmental League together with the U.S. Forest Service

01:12 is starting a community-based forest fire protection system.

01:17 We are very grateful to the U.S. Forest Service for supporting this project at this time

01:23 when our country is at war during Russia's aggression.

01:27 Seven locals have gone through special training and received volunteer certificates.

01:34 We need to keep our community safe. I am talking about wildfire prevention, any emergency situations,

01:42 natural disasters, anything can happen. But we need to be ready to help.

01:46 And in case something bad happens, we need to help people.

01:50 The volunteer firefighter movement had started before the war.

01:55 We started organizing people in volunteer brigades. Now most of those guys are at the front lines.

02:04 But we had five, seven, maybe eight guys from each community who said they wanted to help us.

02:14 The All-Ukrainian Environmental League together with the U.S. Forest Service

02:19 helped revive Rassosha's volunteer firefighter movement.

02:23 Volunteer firefighters are our first helpers. They arrive very quickly if there is a fire.

02:33 Until the government firefighter truck comes, they can start putting out the fire,

02:38 maybe eliminate it altogether.

02:41 Every year we have over 50 emergencies, fires, accidents.

02:46 And now, during the war, it's worse. There's constant shelling.

02:50 Our people need to be the first ones at the scene.

02:53 Diyachok says the community hopes to attract more volunteers and organize volunteer firefighters.

03:02 He says it's a good idea to organize volunteer firefighters in the community.

03:07 The community hopes to attract more volunteers and organized fire safety classes in schools.

03:13 The community's biggest dream is a new fire truck.

03:16 And they hope with the help from the U.S. Forest Service and the All-Ukrainian Environmental League,

03:21 their dream will come true soon.

03:24 You're my sweet darling.

03:26 For Tatiana Kukuryko in the Khmelnytsky region of Ukraine, NRI's VOA News.