Mykola Tytenok
Nikolai Titenok
Native name
Микола Іванович Титенок
Birth nameNikolai Ivanovich Titenok
Born5 December 1962
Vilcha, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died16 May 1986
(aged 23)
Moscow, Soviet Union
Buried
Mitinskoe Cemetery
Allegiance Soviet Union
Service/branchInternal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Paramilitary Fire Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Years of service1984–1986
Rank Junior Sergeant
Battles/warsChernobyl disaster
AwardsHero of Ukraine (2006), Order of the Red Banner (1986), Ukraine's Order for Courage (1996)
Spouse(s)Tatyana Titenok
ChildrenSergey Titenok

Nikolai Ivanovich Titenok (Ukrainian: Микола Іванович Титенок; Russian: Николай Иванович Титенок; 5 December 1962 – 16 May 1986) was a Soviet firefighter and first responder to the Chernobyl disaster. He received a lethal dose of radiation whilst firefighting and was hospitalised in Moscow Hospital No.6, and died 20 days later from radiation poisoning.

Life

Titenok was born in the village of Vilcha in northern Ukraine. After graduating high school in 1980, he immediately entered the Kronstadt Naval School No. 42 reached the rank of starshina 1st class (equivalent to a sergeant) and graduated in June 1981. He served in the Soviet Navy until October 1984, and joined the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs as a firefighter on December 20, 1984.[1][2]

He was married to Tatyana Titenok in early 1985, and their son Sergey was born in September 1985.[3]

Chernobyl disaster

Nikolai Titenok was attached to SPVCH-6, (Militarised Fire Department 6) located around 4km (2.5 mi) from the power plant. He was on duty at the time of the disaster. From his surviving colleagues' testimonies, Titenok climbed aboard a Zil-130 ATS Pump truck and departed from the station towards the plant, in the same car as Ignatenko.[1] When he arrived the truck was parked on the north side of the plant, between units 3&4, but was later relocated to the turbine hall. He was called over to Lieutenant Kibenok, who was assembling a squad to climb to the roof. This squad consisted of Vasily Ignatenko, Nikolai TItenok, Nikolai Vashchuk, Vladimir Tishura and Viktor Kibenok, but since they were city firefighters, they didn't know their way up to the roof. Volodymyr Pravyk shift leader of ВПЧ-2, the power plant's fire station, volunteered himself to guide them. Titenok was part of a hose team along with Nikolai Vashchuk, with Titenok operating the nozzle.[1]

The squad of 6 were moving around the roof of reactor 3 and the base of the ventilation stack, hosing down various small fires which were caused by fragments of superheated graphite from inside the core igniting the bitumen-covered roof.[3] In Telyatnikov's official report, it was stated there were around 5 small blazes on the roof that night.[2]

At approximately 2:20 AM, Titenok fell unconscious due to the early onset of severe ARS, and was carried down to the turbine hall along with the rest of his squad by the members of Pravyk's unit, who were firefighting on the roof of the turbine hall. And at around 2:40 AM, they were taken to Pripyat Hospital by ambulance.[2]

Hospitalization and death

On the night of the accident, Titenok was admitted to Sanitary Unit No.126 in Pripyat and stayed there for a day, before being transported by plane from Boryspil Airport to Moscow. They then were admitted to Hospital No.6 in Moscow, which specialised in treating radiological accidents.[3]

On May 4, Titenok wrote to his wife and son from hospital, the letter read as follows:

"Hello, my beloved wife and my son Serezhenka! Today is Sunday, May 4th. It's been a week since I got here. The main thing... How is my health? Fine. Only it is very, very painful to swallow and eat, there are many blisters in my mouth. But soon everything will pass, in two weeks. They'll put a catheter in the chest, that is, a tube that food comes through. The veins in my arms were swollen from the IV's. They are replaced every day. I'm lying down and writing slowly. Walking around is not allowed.

And now about the most important thing. How are my son and you feeling? Are you healthy? Describe everything, all of the features. I dream about you, you are in front of my eyes and I think about you all the time. Tanya, come back in two weeks, May 19th-20th, I'll be waiting. I'm lying down, they won't let me out of the ward to go anywhere. And on May 20th, I will feel better, I will be able to stay with you longer and take a walk. Do not worry. I'm already tired, and a little headache. I kiss you and Serezha tightly. I hug everyone tightly.

Nikolai, your husband.

May 4, 1986"[1]

On May 7, his condition began to worsen. His wife visited the ward everyday until his death. When Tatyana entered his room on May 8, Nikolai requested for her to bring him some sea buckthorn oil from Pripyat - he was unaware it had been evacuated. He then reportedly asked his wife to take him home to Ukraine, and for her to come take him out of the ward on May 16. And on May 16, he died.[3]

Nikolai Titenok's official cause of death was a blistered heart due to severe ARS, and he was buried in Mitinskoe Cemetery, Moscow, along with the other deceased firefighters and plant workers.

Awards

Legacy

Titenok's wife and son are both still alive as of 2019.[2] His son Sergey became a firefighter in Kyiv. Multiple monuments and statues have been erected in his honour all across Ukraine, including a bust in the "Heroes of Chernobyl Alley".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Higginbotham, Adam (2019). Midnight in Chernobyl. United Kingdom: Penguin Books. pp. 415–416. ISBN 978-0593076835.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Plokhy, Serhii (2019). Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy. United Kingdom: Penguin Books. pp. 305–306. ISBN 0141988355.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Alexievich, Svetlana (1997). Voices from Chernobyl. United Kingdom: Penguin Books. pp. 206–207. ISBN 1628973307.
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