European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine soviet fireman recall chernobyl by Felicity Barringer new York times e were told there was a High level of radiation. We knew about his. But we saw lots of flames that was our main Job. We Are firemen. We Are supposed to Light fires Silling in a Hall of the firefighters museum in Kiev in the u.s.s.r., it. Col. Leonid p. The Tyannikov was talking Mailer of Farlly Atwi the night of april 26,1986, when tie was called from his bed in the town of Prip Yat and sent to the lire at the nearby chernobyl nuclear Plant it was the Early stages of tha world s worst commercial nuclear Power disaster. While a was working to put out the fire on a roof near the gaping Hole where the shattered no.4 reactor had exploded and was spewing out radiation he said it became Clear we did not have enough manpower because Little by Little people were weakening. These were the people that died later he said. The were at least six firemen Art the Rool working under Telyatnikov. Alt have since died among the first of the 31 people who have died As a result of the Accident. But Telyatnikov lived and he has emerged Tram the inferno and the weeks of debilitating radiation sickness As the Foremost Symbol of the struggle against tha rogue reactor. For the soviet authorities the coming anniversary of the disaster la a difficult moment. They can cite accomplishments they have found or built permanent Homes for 90,000 of the 136,000 people who were removed from the 18-mile danger zone around tha Plant and the new town of slave tech a under construction for station personnel outside the zone to replace Prip Yat which is contaminated. The authorities have decontaminated the station area and restarted the no.1 and no. � reactors each of which has  capacity of 1,000 megawatts enough to Supply electricity to a City of 1 million people. The no. 3 reactor remains out of commission and the construction of the planned no. 5 and no. 6 units has been put off. But huge swaths of territory remain contaminated and there Are new Waves of rumours about the dangers. The ukrainian health minister analogy v. Romanenko fell it necessary to give a newspaper interview discounting the possibility of new contamination during the Spring Runoff after his year s heavy snows. In addition Here is lingering scepticism about whether the authorities have acknowledged the full health consequences of the Accident. Telyatnikov is an answer to those who raise such concerns. He is a Young Man a father a part member and a Soldier who did his duty. To has received one of Laon of Telyatnikov with wife a Symbol of the firemen struggle at chernobyl. A photo the highest honors the medal of hero of the Sociol Union in september his photograph with his Bald head a sign of his sacrifice dominated the front Page of the government newspaper Izvestia. The headline was thank you hero of chernobyl in late april a year after the fire he will be at Misino the cemetery in the Northwest suburbs of Moscow where most of the victims Are buried. Now his russet hair has regrow. His voice is firm and his memories of the night of the disaster Are Clear. In a rare interview with a Western reporter he described the eerie scene when he arrived at the reactor about 35 minutes after the explosion. 11 cannot Tell you now who told me about the radiation he said. It was a station worker. They ail wore White uniforms. As we were putting out the fire you had the impression you could see the radiation. First a lot of the substances there were glowing Luminescent a bit like sparklers. There were hashes of Light springing from place to place As if they had been thrown. And there was a kind of Gas on the roof where the people were. It was not like smoke there was smoke too. But this was a kind of tog. It gave off a Peculiar  Telyatnikov said 28 firefighters were on the scene when he arrived and fires had broken Cut at different Levels of tha 215-foot-High Structure housing the reactor he said potassium iodide pills to protect the thyroid gland against radioactive iodine were available in the firemen s first Aid kits. Bui other than that. Soviet sources have reported the firemen had no special equipment. The Standard Tireman s uniform includes a face mask and breathing apparatus As Well As heavy heal res Island outer to Lhing. After More than half an hour on the scene Telyatnikov said he began to feel fatigue but ascribed it to exertion. However the men who had been on he roof were losing consciousness overcome by High doses of radiation. Telyatnikov still did not associate his fatigue with radiation until the other symptoms. The coughing and the vomiting started he was taken to a Hospital in Prip Yat. Others had already been taken there and were Well enough to sit and smoke and ask one another How the explosion could have happened Telyatnikov said. Then doctors arrived Tram Moscow where Hospital 6 specializes in radiological disease. They examined the men and to a them they would be sent to Moscow " Moscow Why Moscow we  the colonel said. He was permitted to Call his wife and asked her to bring a razor and Toothbrush. After two weeks in the Moscow Hospital isolated in a Small room and visited by doctors and nurses Only when he was being examined or fed he fell the debilitating effects of the radiation beginning to take effect. I wanted nothing he said. Neither to see nor to hear nor to eat nor to drink. A lot of letters were coming i got letters from Sweden it was pleasant. I did not know they knew about us in Sweden. The letters helped lift the depression a it happened the swedes were among the lust to select heightened radiation from the chernobyl Accident in the first Days after the disaster when the russians were still reluctant to disclose what had happened. Tej Salnikov was told of the deaths of his Lellow firemen Only when he began to walk around the Hospital corridors in july a Gauze mask Over his Mouth to prevent infection. By August he was spending time on the seashore at Jurmala in Latvia with his Wile and two sons. By september he was Well enough to Fly to Kazakhstan where he was born 35 years ago to see his parents. He is not yet completely healthy although he works As an instructor in the firefighters school in Kiev and makes Public appearances like his recent trip to London to receive an award from a communist newspaper. He is supposed to be careful of getting Loo much Sunshine and Fried and fatty foods Are forbidden because of continuing problems with his liver. And he does not talk about the possibility that the doses of radiation he took in during those hours May Lead to cancer in a few years. All he would say was i expect to grow  tuesday april 13, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 13