Kamchatka Student Awarded Medal for Bravery in Fire Fighting

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. May 12. VOSTOK-MEDIA – A student of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky School #2 has been awarded Medal for Bravery in Fire Fighting, a spokesperson for Kamchatka Krai Emergency Situations Ministry told Vostok-Media.

In October 2009, Vladimir Zaitsev, 16, was walking down Sverdlova Street when he spotted a plume of black smoke rising from a window in a wooden dwelling-house. Risking his own life, he rashed inside the burning house and dragged out an injured man and then returned to the house again and pulled the second man outside. After that he called the fire brigade and an ambulance.

The medal was given to Vladimir Zaitsev in a formal ceremony by the head of Kamchatka Krai Emergency Situations Department Anatoly Plevako.

“This is the first time we give such a high award to a 16-year-old,” says Anatoly Plevako. “Frankly speaking, when I learned that the boy managed to save two men I couldn’t believe my ears! Medals for Bravery in Fire Fighting are given only to very brave people, who displayed valor and selflessness and who saved people. He is a true hero!”