# Viktor Kibenok

Viktor Nikolaevich Kibenok (Ukrainian: Віктор Миколайович Кібенок, Russian: Виктор Николаевич Кибенок; 17 February 1963 – 11 May 1986) was a Chernobyl firefighter who was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union after he died of radiation sickness.

## Life

Viktor Kibenok was born into a family of firefighters, a so called "dynasty". His Father; Nikolai Kuzmich Kibenok was (at the time of Viktor's death) a major in the fire service and had considerable influence in the Chornobyl Region. Both Viktor's grandfather (Kuzma Arkhipovich Kibenok) and great-grandfather (Arkhip Kibenok) were also both firemen. As a child, Viktor would accompany his father to emergencies, where he presumably found his love for firefighting.
After completing his preliminary high school education at the age of 18 in 1980, Viktor found work at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Fire Station (Militarized Fire Department No.2, abbreviated in Russian: ВПЧ-2), enlisting as a private. However, as was Viktor's nature; he strived to become better, he wanted to become an officer. In winter 1980, Viktor Kibenok enrolled in the 'Voroshilov School for Junior Management Personnel'. There, he became a prominent member of his schools' Komsomol committee. He described his time here as "another step towards the summit" in a letter to one of his childhood friends Nikolai Radchenko.
He received his qualifications from Voroshilovgrad in October 1981, and sat the entrance exams to the Cherkasy Fire & Technical School that same winter - in late 1981. Kibenok was accepted, and began his two year course at the Fire School in summer 1982. After two rigorous years, Kibenok was taught everything there was about firefighting, how to best combat certain situations, he was extensively tested physically as well as mentally. He graduated from Cherkasy on June 30th 1984, being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.
Now an officer, Kibenok had been assigned a posting from the Fire School; he was to be sent to Leningrad to work in a fire station there. His mother Irina protested to her husband, asking if her son could be sent somewhere closer to home in northern Ukraine. Viktor's father presumably pulled some strings, and Viktor Kibenok was thus assigned to the 6th Paramilitary Fire Department (CВПЧ-6) in July 1984, in the fledgling city of Pripyat, an 'Atomgrad', a prestigious young city.
He met his wife Tatyana in late autumn 1984. Kibenok was described as being strong-willed, kind by-nature, a caring man. He also had a love for Motorsports and owned a motorcycle. In his free time he would modify and work on his motorcycle and loved driving it. He also organized motorcycle races with his subordinate and friend; Vladimir Tishura, in front of the fire station in the summer.

## Chernobyl Disaster

At 01:29 in the morning on April 26th, an alarm came through to the Pripyat fire station, from the dispatcher of the nuclear plant's brigade: "Explosion between the 3rd and 4th blocks, the roof is on fire" the firefighters quickly donned their protective gear and began boarding the trucks. Three vehicles left the station towards the power plant; an AC (375) C1A - a large water tanker based on the Ural-375 chasis, an AL (131) L21 - A mechanical ladder-truck based on the newer ZiL-131 platform, and an AC (130) 63A, another water tanker, with Kibenok boarding the latter. The young lieutenant was in the passenger seat of the AC (130) 63A, leading the column.
The column arrived at the power plant at 01:35, along the southern side of the NPP. The column came to a stop alongside the turbine hall, between units 3 & 4. Kibenok could see the fires on the roof of the turbine hall were already being extinguished by the men of ВПЧ-2 , however the roof of the ventilation block had begun to burn, posing a risk to the structural integrity of the roof over the 3rd reactor - if the fire were to spread. Kibenok raised Lieutenant Vladimir Pravik (shift leader of ВПЧ-2) over the radio. Lieutenant Pravik had been the first responding officer to the explosion, and was currently on the roof of the reactor building at Mark +70.0. Pravik asked Kibenok if he had brought the mechanical ladder-truck, to which Kibenok responded yes, Pravik told him to turn around his vehicles and to redeploy them to 'Row B', on the north side of the reactor building, as the fire on the roof of the ventilation block needed to be extinguished.
At around 01:38, Kibenok and his men reached 'Row B'. Pravik descended from the roof of the third block to meet them. It was decided between the two young officers to deploy the mechanical ladder underneath the VSRO building, giving them easy access to the fire escape on the northern face of the third block, and thus, to the roof. Kibenok ordered the ural truck to be deployed on a hydrant nearby. Around 01:42, Kibenok climbed to the roof of the VSRO block with two firefighters: Anatoly Ivanchenko and Viktor Romashevsky, and began extinguishing the small fires there. From his position on the VSRO roof, Kibenok could see the entire northern face of unit four, and likely reported it's complete destruction to Pravik over the radio. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Pravik was assembling a small group of Kibenok's men in order to extinguish the fires on the roof of the ventilation block, consisting of Vasily Ignatenko, Nikolai Vashchuk, Vladimir Tishura and Nikolai Titenok.
At 01:45, the Chernobyl Fire Station arrived from the nearby town of Chernobyl. Their vehicles were used to supply water to the roof of the third block for Pravik's squad. At about 01:50, Pravik's squad began climbing to the roof of block three, and reached it at 02:00. They began to extinguish small fires around the base of the ventilation chimney above the open reactor.
At 02:05, Lieutenant Pravik reported over the radio "Explosion in the reactor compartment of unit four". After hearing this radio transmission, Viktor Kibenok began climbing. He reached the roof of the ventilation block just after 02:10, and briefly conversed with Lieutenant Pravik, whom at this point was already clearly suffering from the onset symptoms of radiation exposure, Pravik told him to take over command of efforts on the roof, and that he was going to descend from the roof to call for ambulances and request for the men on the roof to be relieved, as Ignatenko and the others were also beginning to feel unwell. The time is around 02:15.
The replacement squad (which consisted of two firefighters; Ivan Shavrey and Aleksandr Petrovsky) met Kibenok's squad descending on the roof of the VSRO building at around 02:25, Kibenok having already made the decision to evacuate the roof due to his men being too exhausted to continue because of the high levels of radiation. Ivan Shavrey remembers: "Somewhere along the way we met Lieutenant Kibenok's guys, they were walking, holding helmets. All are in bad shape, but they kept on their feet. We wanted to help them descend. Kibenok said: "We are alone, your time is precious" he explained how to best reach the roof, and where the hoses were laid, and we went up."
Kibenok's squad reached the ground at about 02:30 AM, here, they were helped out of their uniforms by their colleagues. The driver of the Ural tanker truck, Anatoly Naydyuk recalls: "We saw them coming down the staircase, falling down, throwing up, their faces had a blue coloration, some were brown. We helped them take off their uniforms, and then an ambulance came and took them away - I never saw them again."
By 02:40, ambulances had arrived on site. Kibenok, at this time, was still able to stand. He had a brief conversation with an ambulance doctor; Valentin Belokon. Belokon asked Kibenok if there were any burns cases, Kibenok said no, but that the situation was still unclear, and that he needed to speak to his superiors. He then suddenly collapsed to his knees and began vomiting. He was promptly helped into an ambulance.

## Hospitalization and death

Kibenok stayed in Sanitary Unit No.126 (the Pripyat Hospital) for one day before the true scale of the accident was realized. He was then transported by air to Moscow Hospital No.6, which specialised in treating victims of radiation accidents. He had received bitumen burns on the inside of his mouth and his lungs were damaged by inhaling burning bitumen. Due to these internal burns, Kibenok couldn't eat and it was extremely painful for him to speak. By May 9th, Kibenok could no longer stand. He died a few days later on May 11th a few hours after his friend and colleague Vladimir Pravik. Throughout his hospitalization, he remained positive - even after multiple failed skin grafts and a failed bone-marrow transplant. His funeral was held on May 13th. He received an estimated 1000 REM (10 Sv) dose.
Kibenok was aged just 23. He is buried alongside his comrades in Mitinskoe Cemetery in Moscow.

## Legacy

After his death, Kibenok left behind a wife, and a child. Although the child would later be stillborn. He posthumously received the Hero of The Soviet Union award on September 25th 1986. He has a street named after him in his home city of Ivankiv. Kibenok also has numerous monuments, all over the Kyiv region, including one at the Cherkasy Fire and Technical School, where he trained to become an officer.