Leonid Telyatnikov

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Leonid Petrovich Telyatnikov (Леонид Петрович Телятников; born January 25, 1951 in Vvedenka, Kostanai Province, Kazakhstan; died December 2, 2004 in Kiev, Ukraine) was the head of the fire department at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and lead the team of firefighters to the fire at reactor number 4 which became the Chernobyl disaster. Despite the radiological dangers, they had no radiation suits, no respirators, and no working dosimeters. From results of a blood test it was estimated he received 4 grays of radiation.

In 1987 Telyatnikov was named a Hero of the Soviet Union. Two of his subordinates, Vladimir Pravik and Vicktor Kibenok, were also thus named, but posthumously.

He continued service in the Ministry of the Interior of the USSR, and, following its collapse, of the Ukraine. In 1998, Telyatnikov headed the volunteer fire department of Kiev, and designed the "Junior Firefighter" programme. He died of cancer at the age of 53. On April 25, 2006, the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, a monument to him was opened in Kiev at Baykove cemetery where he is buried.