Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Maryna Barba
00:14 Olga Shelest | Volunteer firefighter
00:39 Mykyta Dugin | Firefighter
01:35 Olga Shelest | Volunteer firefighter
01:39 Kateryna Dykovytska | Volunteer firefighter
01:56 Alla Karpyuk | Head of Velikoomelyansk village council

Script:

0:00
Fighting fires in their community. This group are among the first volunteers to get out and battle a blaze. They're also members of Ukraine's first female fire brigade.

0:13 SOT Olga Shelest, Volunteer fire fighter

"We are not afraid of fire - let it be afraid of us.” 

0:18 

For over a year now, the volunteers have been working alongside the state emergency services in Ukraine's western Rivne region. 

0:28
 
The volunteers regularly undergo training with professional firefighters.

0:34 SOT Mykyta Dugin, Firefighter

"The creation of these teams is a very important and integral part of ensuring fire safety in the community. They are the first to be at the scene. If the event is very large, they can localize the fire on their own and wait for the main fire and rescue units. When the main units arrive, they perform other functions as directed by the fire extinguishing manager."

1:05
 
Initially, there were only eight women in the team, but now there are 21 volunteers. Most of them are village council employees, deputies and members of the executive committee, as well as teachers, accountants and saleswomen. And almost every one of them has already been out to fight a fire at least once.

1:34 

SOT Olga 

"I never thought I'd ever wear this firefighter uniform."

1:39 

SOT Katerina 

"We didn't plan this in our lives, well maybe when I was a child I did."

1:45

The idea of creating a female volunteer fire brigade was down to the head of a village council. However, there were some objections.  

1:54

SOT Alla Karpyuk, Head of Velyka Omelyan village council

"There are stereotypes that this is a purely male profession, and we will not be able to cope with it, and it is dangerous. Yes, it is dangerous. But given that we are currently living in a state of war, and we do not know what the consequences of that will be, what may happen, what destruction may occur, we should at least be a support to those who need us.” 

2:19  

There are plans to continue developing the women's volunteer fire brigade with new training and exercises in the pipeline. There's plenty of interest too with several more women in the small community hoping to sign up. 

2:31 end