Volodymyr Pravyk

Volodymyr Pavlovych Pravyk (Ukrainian: Володимир Павлович Правик, Russian: Владимир Павлович Правик, English: Vladimir Pravik; (13 June 1962 – 11 May 1986) was a Soviet firefighter who died of radiation burns sustained during the Chernobyl disaster. He was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin, and the Ukrainian Star For Courage (later known as the Order For Courage).

Volodymyr Pavlovych Pravyk
Native name
Володимир Павлович Правик
Born13 June 1962
Chernobyl, Ukraine SSR, USSR
Died11 May 1986(1986-05-11) (aged 23)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Buried
Mitinskoe Cemetery
AllegianceUSSR
Service/branchInternal Troops
Years of service1979–1986
RankLieutenant
UnitChernobyl NPP Fire Station
Battles/warsChernobyl Disaster
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin, Order For Courage

Life

Pravyk was only twenty-three years old when the Chernobyl disaster occurred. He was a college graduate, engaged in creative endeavors such as photography, drawing, and poetry.[1] He was also a member of the Komsomol, the youth division of the Communist Party.[1]

Pravyk was married to a kindergarten teacher, who had just given birth to their first child when he died.[1]

Chernobyl disaster

When the explosion happened, Pravik and his men were resting in the fire station. He heard the explosion and seconds later came an alarm. He was told that the roof was on fire. Pravik dispatched 3 firetrucks over to the power plant. Once Pravik reached unit 4, he saw the burning ruins of Reactor 4 and sounded a stage 3 alert, meaning every fire station in the Kiev region had to respond. He parked his trucks outside the transport corridor. He and another man, Leonid Shavrey, went inside the transport corridor and tried to find out what was going on. Pravik tried to speak to two distressed plant workers but they didn't know what was happening either.

He then told Shavrey to take the trucks to the turbine hall and start extinguishing fires on the roof. Pravik then joined his men. It is around this time, that Deputy Chief Engineer Dyatlov came outside and told the firemen where to connect their hoses to the water supply. At 1:45 AM Kibenok arrived with his men from Pripyat and Pravik told them to go to Reactor 3's roof and extinguish fires around the ventilation chimney. He mainly stayed with Kibenok on the roof of Reactor 3 while his men got the turbine hall fire under control.

A few hours later, he was taken to Pripyat hospital by ambulance after succumbing to the early symptoms of ARS. He was then transported to Moscow Hospital No.6 by plane.

He died on May 11, 1986, two weeks after the Chernobyl Disaster at the age of 23

Awards

References
  1. Higginbotham, Adam (2019). Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 58. ISBN 9781501134616.
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