Firefighters save dozens of people

Pavlodar, July 29, 2010 (Khabar) - The administration of the Yekibastuz fire station is planning to submit a letter to the Minister of Emergency Situations asking to give awards to three of its officers. At the risk of their own lives, the young firefighters saved dozens of people from a burning multi-storey block of flats. The officers themselves received bad burns and are currently in hospital. The blaze spread around a 9-storey block of flats in the centre of Yekibastuz after a fire started in one of the 4-room flats. The fire was very high in the difficulty rankings. Once all the people were evacuated from the burning building, the firefighters once again checked the building to make sure there were no people left inside. Suddenly, their route was blocked by the blaze. Senior sergeant Yermek Alikhanov had almost 30% of his body burnt and was taken to hospital suffering from shock.

Yermek Alikhanov, firefighter:
- The most important thing is that people from that residential building were not hurt. I have already heard that there were no seriously injured people. I am happy about that. We will recover soon.

For a few days, Yermek was in a bad condition. Now, the doctors are making optimistic forecasts about his recovery.

Marat Kanzhigalin, head of burns unit at city hospital №1:
- He is receiving proper treatment. In the future, he might need some skin grafts because the burns are deep ones.

Yermek’s relatives, friends and colleagues are supporting him while the fire station administration is planning to send a letter to the Emergency Situations Minister asking for awards for all three firefighters.