The Arctic Rescuers

This year the emergency and rescue service “Yamalspas” is celebrating its 25th anniversary. More than 50 thousand calls, about 30 thousand rescued people and the big number of dangerous situations – these are the results, with which the rescuers of Yamal came to the jubilee.

The regional base of the aviation forest air protection was created in 1992 by the regulation of the head of the administration of Yamal. The staff was not big. The service was equipped with several units of machinery and the small number of emergency and rescue devices. During these years the service was created step by step, while accumulating experience of work in emergency situations.
Now “Yamalspas” is the powerful group in the arctic region being in permanent readiness to fulfill tasks on prevention and liquidation of emergency situations and to rescue people. More than 100 people, including 9 rescuers of the first class, 83 – of the second and the third class work day-and-night.
The majority of the rescuers mastered additional specializations: diving, ship navigation, industrial climbing, gas and smoke protective service and car driving. The rescuers are equipped with more than 30 units of machinery. These are emergency-rescue vehicles, watercrafts, snowmobiles, emergency and rescue tools and diving equipment. They manage to keep the high standard owing to constant exercises, practicing their lifesaving skills and daily physical training.
According to the words of the head of “Yamalspas” Nikolay Potemkin, the profession of a rescuer is one of the difficult and dangerous in the world. Courageous and brave people ready to risk their life at any moment choose it. Each new day is risk for a rescuer. Tens of human lives were saved often by the price of own health of the rescuers.
During 25 years the rescuers helped residents of Yamal to cope with emergency situations, fires and floods. According to their duties they should find the way out from any situation, and situations can be different. They had to pull people out of mangled cars, to remove from height, to rescue drowning people, to save unlucky fishermen from drifting ice floes, to search for lost people in the forest and to save the animals from openings in ice. Thus, last year more than 100 reindeer of a reindeer-herding brigade stuck in snow and ice in the middle of the Ob River. At night the reindeer herders were not able to assess correctly the level of water above ice. In the result a part of the herd favorably went to another riverbank, and about 100 reindeer being harnessed in narty (nomadic sledge) stuck in wet snow. Employees of Yamalspas arrive to save the people and the animals from the snow-water captivity. At night they transported 4 children and grownups by amphibious hovercraft and in the morning came back for the reindeer and the narty.
Less of all this profession is related to fragile charming women, who fulfill this work together with men. Thus, women work in a cynological group in Noyabrsk. For work they choose dogs of strong and hardy breeds — shepherd-dogs and boxer-dogs, also Labrador dogs are ideal. Dogs are trained constantly. They are taught physically and psychologically, skills to search for people in any conditions are formed. By the words of the cynologists, the profession of a rescuer requires for bravery, endurance and strength, what are characteristics to men, but fragile women also can make their contribution to rescuing people.
One of the brightest examples is a case that took place last summer, when a man went to gather mushrooms alone and was not able to find way back. His wife immediately called the search and rescue detachment of Noyabrsk. The rescuers arrived with a specially trained dog, which helped to find the man. According to their words, the main award for work is to find a person alive. The rescuers overcome hundreds kilometers in taiga every year. They even joke about it: “We, as models, are always slender and in good physical form. We go not along the fashion catwalk and more often in swamps, but always in fresh air”.
240 landing firefighters work in fire dangerous season on the territory of Yamal. 16 specialists having qualification of pilots-observers fulfill flights. They help “Yamalspas” to fight with fires. In spite of all difficulties and risks, the firefighters and the rescuers prevent human victims and also provide protection of populated areas and objects of economy from natural fires.
They are always ready to come to help people, to withstand severe forces of nature, threats of natural and technogenic character. Last year became a severe test of strength and professionalism for the rescuers of Yamal. Mass natural fires and the anthrax on the territory of the region were not just an emergency situation but a calamity, which forever will stay in history of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. However, the rescuers and military men with dignity and honor overcame all emergency situations. Besides, they saved the settlement Zapolyarniy of Nadymskiy district from fire. Almost 1000 people live there.
Now “Yamalspas’ includes 6 search and rescue detachments, which are based in several populated areas of Yamal. The subdivisions of the service are accredited for fulfillment of 13 kinds of emergency and rescue work: extinguishing of natural fires, liquidating of accidents on motor road transport, diving operations, evacuation of people and property from the disaster zone, liquidation of spills of oil and oil products on land. The rescuers accompany tourist groups and provide safety at conducting of activities in the nature. Today specialists of “Yamalspas” are professionals, who are distinguished with bravery, courage and readiness to self-sacrifice.

The Russian version
prepared by
Yelena Tregub
The News Agency
“Sever-Press”