Forest firefighters of the SE "Pivnichna Pushcha" passed the "Forest firefighter training course" in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone
During March 23-24, teachers of the Department of Forestry of the Institute of Forestry and Landscape-Park Management of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, employees of the Regional Eastern Europe Fire Monitoring Center together with specialists of the Ukrainian Center for Training, Retraining and Advanced Training of Forestry Personnel and the “Chernihiv Forestry” branch of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" conducted a training on theoretical and practical preparation of a forest firefighter for the fire fighters of the SE "Pivnichna Pushcha" in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
The purpose of the training: theoretical and practical training of a forest firefighter at a basic level, acquisition of practical skills regarding the peculiarities of the management and extinguishing of forest fires.
"Forest firefighter training course" is a training course for initial level forest firefighters, as well as upgrading the qualifications of firefighters of forest fire stations and forestries of state and other forestry enterprises of Ukraine, developed on the basis of the decision of the extended collegium of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine dated May 4, 2022 and the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 612 dated May 20, 2022 "On approval of the Procedure for the organization of protection of forests". The model program and educational thematic plan were developed taking into account the above-mentioned Resolution No. 612, Order of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine No. 382 dated December 23, 2020 "On approval of the Regulations on Departmental Fire Protection of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine", Order of the State Forestry Committee of Ukraine No. 526 dated December 28, 2005 "On the approval of the Regulation on forest fire stations", Order of the State Forestry Committee of Ukraine No. 278 dated December 27, 2004 "On the approval of the Rules of fire safety in the forests of Ukraine" and other relevant normative documents.
In 2020 for the first time in Ukraine large forest and landscape fires of a new type led to human casualties, destruction of entire settlements, damage and death of forests on an area of more than 157,000 hectares in Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Luhansk regions. Expenditures for extinguishing fires reached hundreds of millions of hryvnias, and losses to society, the economy, and the environment reached tens of billions of hryvnias. One of the main causes of such fires was the combination of long period of extreme fire hazard weather (class 5) with wind speed above 35-45 km per hour. The constant presence of a significant number of fire sources in the landscapes of Ukraine (on the agricultural lands, floodplains, pastures, fallows, near settlements and summer cottage cooperatives, in forests, along railways, highways, power supply networks, etc.) and dangerous weather conditions led to the simultaneous occurrence of a significant number of rapid landscape fires, which acquired a high burning intensity after entering the pine forests. This created extreme difficulties for their extinguishing by the forces and means of forest protection, forest fire stations of forestry enterprises, institutions of the nature reserve fund and involved fire brigades of other departments.
Climate changes, that became one of the causes of new types of fires, indicate a high probability of a recurrence of extremely dangerous weather conditions similar to those of April 4-16 (Narodychi village, Ovruch city), July 7 and September 30, 2020 (Severodonetsk city). A new level of fire hazard weather and a new type of fire require new methods of combating them. In the absence of state funding of forestry and martial law, the real possibilities for updating fire equipment and fire extinguishing means by forestry enterprises are significantly limited. Therefore, the most promising areas of fighting against new types of fires are those that will not require significant financial costs: 1) improvement of the fire prevention system; 2) increasing the level of preparedness, the efficiency of fire detection and the first attack on a fire; 3) upgrading the qualifications of forest fire IC, forest guards and forest firefighters regarding the use of modern fire prevention and extinguishing methods; 4) improvement of firefighting organization. Contamination of forests with explosive objects creates new non-standard risks for firefighters.
The training was conducted by: Sergiy Zibtsev, professor of the Department of Forestry of the Institute of Forestry and Landscape-Park Management of the NUBiP of Ukraine, head of the Regional Eastern Europe Fire Monitoring Center; Oleksandr Soshenskyi and Vasyl Humenyuk, associate professors of the Department of Forestry of the NUBiP of Ukraine, employees of the Regional Eastern Europe Fire Monitoring Center; Volodymyr Braiko, head of the forest protection department of the “Chernihiv Forestry” branch of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine". Instructors for practical training were: M. Troyan, D. Makhov, R. Karamelya, O. Savlyuk - employees of the “Chernihiv Forestry” branch of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine".
Oleksandr Soshenskyi, Associate Professor of the Department of Forestry of the Institute of Forestry and Landscape-Park Management of the NUBiP of Ukraine
