Leonid Telyatnikov

Leonid Petrovich Telyatnikov (Леонид Петрович Телятников; born January 25 1951 in Vvedenka, Kostanai Province, Kazakhstan; died December 2 2004 in Kiev, Ukraine) was the head of the fire department at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and led the team of firefighters to the fire at reactor number 4 which became the Chernobyl disaster. Despite the radiological dangers, they had no radiation suits, no respirators, and no working dosimeters. From results of a blood test it was estimated he received 4 grays of radiation.

According to one source [Text to image of opening of a monument to Leonid Telyatnikov at Baykove cemetery in Kiev. [http://photo.unian.net/eng/detail/35078.html Source Unian (access 23 July 2008) ] ] , Telyatnikov headed fire fighting effort at Chernobyl reactor after the explosion in April 1986. At that time Telyatnikov was the chief of military fire prevention at the Chernobyl nuclear-power station. Telyatnikov himself and his subordinates ascended the roof of the badly damaged and heavily radioactively contaminated unit 4 more than once in order to prevent the fire spreading and endangering Reactor 3.

Another source gives a slightly different account:

Major Leonid Telyatnikov, the commander of [Fire] Station No. 2, was on holiday, but he lived in Prypiat and had received the alarm signal by telephone. He arrived at the reactor site about 10 minutes after the firemen had begun their battle and took overall command. He climbed onto the roof of Reactor No. 3. Although there were at least five fires on the roof, the reactor was still operating. The priorities of the firemen were clear - they had to extinguish the fires on the roof of the undamaged reactor and in the machine hall. They used mainly water to do this. Despite their efforts, they could not prevent the fire from spreading before the Kiev fire brigade arrived to replace them. [ cite book
last = Medvedev
first = Zhores A.
authorlink = Zhores A. Medvedev
title = The Legacy of Chernobyl
publisher = W. W. Norton & Company (paperback 1992). First American edition in 1990
date = 1990
isbn = 978-0393308143 (paperback) page 42]

In 1987 Telyatnikov was named a Hero of the Soviet Union. Two of his subordinates, Vladimir Pravik and Vicktor Kibenok, were also thus named, but posthumously, as they died from acute radiation sickness

He continued service in the Ministry of the Interior of the USSR, and, following its collapse, of the Ukraine. In 1998, Telyatnikov headed the volunteer fire department of Kiev, and designed the "Junior Firefighter" programme. He died of cancer at the age of 53. On April 25, 2006, the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, a monument to him was opened in Kiev at Baykove cemetery where he is buried.

See also

* Liquidator (Chernobyl)

External links

* (ru) [http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1953 Leonid Petrovich Telyatnikov] by Nicolai Vasilevich Ufarkin at "Geroi Strani".
* (en) [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060419f3.html Late Chernobyl fireman's blood tests to be disclosed] , "Japan Times", April 19, 2006
* (en) [http://photo.unian.net/eng/detail/35078.html Opening of Telyatnikov's momument at Baykove] from UNIAN

Notes