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Municipality is Fighting Fire on Its Own for Several Years Now After Setting up Voluntary Fire Brigade in Zaporizhzhia Oblast

About the municipality

Region Zaporizhska oblast

Full name of the municipality The Komysh-Zoria Municipality

Population 6 230

Number of settlements 10

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Another work season of the Komysh-Zoria Municipality Voluntary Fire Brigade is drawing to a close. The fire brigade came into being in the aftermath of decentralization reform through the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme and with the participation of the Solidarity Fund of the Republic of Poland. The volunteer team has extinguished 40 large-scale fires and established cooperation with the local department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, said Ihor Hnatusha, head of the municipality and a member of the fire brigade.

In his words, the need to set up a voluntary fire brigade emerged during the implementation of decentralization reform when the municipality appeared to have lost its fire department. Setting up such a team in the form of a public utility was impossible due to a shortage of financial resources.

“All of a sudden, U-LEAD representatives told us that a call for proposals to set up a fire brigade at the municipal level had been announced. This was done as part of the Improving Municipal Civil Protection in Amalgamated Hromadas in Ukraine Initiative, which is implemented by U-LEAD and the Solidarity Fund of the Republic of Poland. We even did not start to think if it was worth trying, because it was not just our desire, it was rather our necessity to do so,”

said Hnatusha.

Officially, the local council approved the initiative of setting up a fire brigade in late 2017. The volunteer fire fighters underwent special training at Ukrainian and Polish firefighting centers. At present, the municipal fire brigade responds to fire alarms together with the rescuers of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, but it also does it on its own from time to time.

“As we not professional fire fighters, there is always something we can learn from. This notwithstanding, there are three work seasons behind us. During this period of time, we have had a chance to extinguish some 40 big fires. Small fires sometimes happen as well. Though one can hardly describe them as large-scale, the fire may stretch as far as one kilometer away, making our work hard. We realize that if we do not arrive on time and do not take sufficient efforts, the fire can destroy not only the plants over there, but also the living creatures inhabiting the area, and then it may spread further to the houses,”

the municipality head noted.

Now the volunteers have got two fire fighting vehicles, a fire station in the village of Komysh-Zoria, and up-to-date equipment, which has been provided by representatives of Poland as one of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme donor-countries. In the short-term, the community plans call for purchasing the third vehicle and earmarking funds in the next budget for providing the volunteers with tangible incentives.

“U-LEAD is to thank for all this. It has given us an insane impetus and unbelievable support. We are a vivid example of how one can solve a problem if there is significant assistance provided on a step-by-step basis. This is not about money only. This involves delivering training, giving advice, responding to a horde of questions, and providing legal support. We thank U-LEAD for offering us a shoulder to lean on, which our community was in need of so much. Now we walk hand in hand, and this is powerful and significant collaboration,”

Ihor Hnatusha said further.