Fire Station Visit

Monday, May 14, our morning was spent at the Fire headquarters for the City of Uzhgorod and greater area. We were treated to a training demonstration and an in-depth and informative tour of the hall and fire apparatus’. As expected, the equipment was old and archaic, with some of the apparatus motors actually taken from tanks from the soviet era. The hall had several apparatus including “pumps” or “engines”, a foam tanker, a ladder, a high volume hose layers, and a rapid response unit. Although even one of our front line pumps was better equipped and could do the job of the entire fleet we were shown, I was surprised to find some modern equipment, and even some of the same suppliers we use. Both the GSE team and the local Rotarians were surprised to learn about the roles the fire department are responsible for in the community, and of the current plans which would improve the delivery of services to the citizens of Uzhgorod. Again, the biggest challenge the department faces, similar to all civic departments, is the trickle of government funding, which we were told has again shrunk. The result, a department doing their best but failing to modernize their obsolete fleet, while using donated hand-me-down equipment from other countries. While support from their government may be lacking, I was pleased to see that esprit de corps is alive and well within the department, and, that the brotherhood we share as firemen exits here too. This was evident in our meeting with the deputy chief and his description of the relationship he has with department within and outside Ukraine.