Vasily Ignatenko

Lore & Background

Ignatenko was born on a collective farm in the Gomel Region of the Byelorussian SSR and grew up in the village of Sperizh'e. He trained as an electrician, graduated in 1978 and worked in a factory in Bobruisk before being called up in April 1980. He served his two years as a military firefighter in Moscow. Discharged on 25 August 1982, he was hired by the fire service in Pripyat within a month and moved into an apartment at the city fire station.

On 26 April 1986 his brigade was called out at 1:29 a.m. He was among the first 9 firefighters to leave Pripyat for the plant, which lay 4 km away.

He climbed the fire escape of unit three and worked on the roof of the ventilation building, putting out small fires started by hot debris thrown from the reactor. The men were soon overcome by the first effects of acute radiation syndrome. He was taken to the Pripyat Hospital around 2:35 a.m.

Reader's Guide

In Moscow he was treated at Hospital No. 6, which had a specialised radiological department. He was given a bone marrow transplant on 2 May 1986, with his older sister as donor; he had refused to let his younger sister, then thirteen, donate out of concern for her health. The transplant did not have the hoped-for result. He died at 11:20 in the morning on 13 May 1986 and was buried with full military honours at Mitinskoe Cemetery in Moscow, alongside other victims of the disaster.

He had married in 1983. His wife travelled to Moscow and stayed at the hospital through his illness. The contamination of his family's village after the accident forced them to resettle elsewhere.

Did You Know?

• He was known as the champion of his brigade in fire-applied sports.
• He was buried in two coffins, an inner one of zinc and an outer one of wood.