"Now is not the time to take care of yourself."
A former trucker, a school math teacher, construction workers - people of absolutely different professions have united to form a volunteer fire department (VFB) in the Belovsky District of Kursk Region. Similar teams appeared in six border districts of the region at the end of the first year of the Volunteer Fire Department. And they have already proved their effectiveness - they act as assistants to EMERCOM rescuers, and in some places they have taken the first role - the number of fires due to shelling has increased many times. At the end of 2024, the head of the Emergencies Ministry, Alexander Kurenkov, awarded the best FSC of Russia. 10 regions participated in the contest, and it was the Belovo district detachment of Kursk region that won. Izvestia correspondent met with the rescuers, learned what tasks they perform and what challenges they face.
"Close" the district
Belovsky is the southernmost district of Kursk region, it borders with Belgorod region and Ukraine. In August 2024, the AFU occupied several of its settlements, but they were knocked out of there rather quickly - within a few weeks. However, enemy drones continue to circle over local villages and roads to this day, so a significant part of Belovskoye remains a "red zone". Only last week, two civilians were killed near the district center after a kamikaze attack on a civilian car.
Guys from the PDK are on the road every day - fires have decreased with the onset of winter, but they are also responsible for evacuating civilians, delivering humanitarian aid, escorting utility workers and sappers. The volunteers are based in the building of one of the agricultural enterprises - the premises were allocated on their own initiative by a local farmer. There are 17 people in the team. The shifts are 24 hours in three.
Sergey Kobozev - Head of the Volunteer Fire Brigade of Belovsky District, Kursk Region
A reinforced group is sent to each task: two additional people control the sky, two more - the ground: there are a lot of unexploded shells in the fields, and the approaches to water towers and power lines have recently been heavily mined by the Ukrainians from the air.
-Our team, as well as others in the region, was created at the end of 2022 , - says the head of Belovo DPK Sergei Kobozev. - Rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations then elementary did not have time everywhere, part of the territory remained uncovered. At the same time, the number of fires was rapidly increasing - after volleys from "Grad" installations, artillery, from UAV strikes, from the same heat traps, which were dropped by our attack planes. At that time I was working as a dispatcher in the 112 service. I had experience as a firefighter in a forestry department. I was offered to form and lead a squad.
Who went to the volunteer teams
In the "non-professional firefighters" went people of different specialties - drivers, builders, there is a trucker, a finisher, a school math teacher. The requirement was one - "do not step back, if taken." And almost everyone stayed at their post.
-At first we did not have service cars, we drove our own - we got acquainted with people, studied the territory, and learned new things, - says the commander. - Gradually we were allocated two cars with tanks. The district administration built the building of the unit 3 kilometers from the border. After the AFU invasion it had to be abandoned and relocated to a safer place. The hottest time began just after the Ukrainian offensive. We had to go to the fires three or four times a day, from one to another, literally without a break.
On assignment to escort the gas workers' repair team
The time was difficult, chaotic, everyone was on edge. Enemy tanks were rattling across the fields only a few kilometers away from the fires that had to be extinguished. The temptation to drop everything and leave was very great, Sergei recalls. It seemed - just a little more and, trembling, one would quit, followed by another, a third, everything would fall... But we managed to endure the difficult period with dignity. We stood firm.
- The guys took the families to a safe area," Kobozev explains. - Four people stayed in the unit, because they simply had nowhere to return to - the house was either destroyed or in the front line zone. Some of them moved to Kursk with their relatives, but they have not abandoned the unit - they come here 150 kilometers away for a shift like a bayonet. In general, the present time has shown who is who. Some gave up on everything and left. Others stayed and are fighting for their neighborhood, for their land to the end.
A key concept
Among the volunteers is 36-year-old Sasha Samokhin. In his native village of Giryi he organized a cab company, he himself as a driver has traveled every corner of the district, he knows all its paths, every street in every village and settlement. An experienced hunter, he is responsible for the "sky" in the squadron, for each trip he takes his double-barrelled Izh-27 and cartridges filled with shot. Once he used to shoot ducks, now he shoots exclusively at mechanical "birds". The last time he used a weapon was a month ago.
- We were traveling as an escort, taking a pension to old people in the village of Belitsa," says Alexander. - We entered a dangerous zone, turned on the "Bulat" (drone detector), and it immediately let us know that there were kamikazes nearby. At first it showed two danger sticks - it means that the copter is 300-400 meters away. And then - four, already seriously, close. Very soon we noticed it - it hovered over the road and was waiting for us. We opened the doors, rushed scurrying to the landing. I saw that he was diving exactly on our car, took aim and from fifteen meters hit him ...
Alexander Samokhin, volunteer of the fire department of Belovsky district
Another member of the squad is 21-year-old Dmitry Drozdov, the youngest in the team. He is from the border village of Zabuzhevka, where it is better not to appear unnecessarily. After school, he studied to become a firefighter. In 2022 he was drafted into the army and immediately got to the border of Belgorod region, where as a mortar man he confronted the AFU, and also covered the exit of our units from Kharkiv region.
The youngest on the team is 21-year-old Dmitry Drozdov
He was twice contused and wounded. After returning home he briefly thought about joining a volunteer detachment. Repeatedly participated in evacuations of people. Together with children from the Volunteer Detachment he delivers warm clothes, first aid kits, gas cylinders, water, trench candles (they are made by children of Belovo district) to the warring units.
- Mutual aid is probably the key concept that has characterized all the recent months," says Sergei Kobozev. - This is not the time to take care of ourselves. The same farmer helped us out with a room for the unit, helps us with gasoline on his own initiative, without asking for anything in return. While we are talking to you, one of our guys is repairing a car for the military in the garage. Schoolchildren are making trench candles. The head of the district Nikolai Volobuev has repeatedly evacuated the wounded.
Dugout candles are distributed to units by volunteer rescuers
Guys from the Belgorod Teroborona, with whom Kobozev's team stands next door, gave them two anti-drone rifles with collimator sights, capable of damping the frequencies of attacking UAVs. The head of Russia's best volunteer firefighting team says: you can see how people today are truly united when faced with trouble and stand up for each other.
