Rescuers honor memory of V. Ignatenko

On the day of the 37^th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, rescuers laid flowers at the memorial plaque to Belarusian clean-up worker Vasily Ignatenko. Minister of Emergency Situations Vadim Siniavski attended the memorial meeting. Extinguishing the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the world's first experience of fighting emergency in the immediate vicinity of a destroyed nuclear reactor in presence of ionizing radiation. The alarms were instantly sounded in the paramilitary fire department for protection of the nuclear power plant. The first squad from the Pripiat fire department arrived at the emergency site in less than 2 minutes after the accident. As Vadim Siniavski noted, the names of the firefighters who were first to face the accident and helped prevent an even worse disaster, will never be forgotten.