Vladimir Bodelan
On May 02, 2014, a tragedy occurred in Odessa: 48 people died. Most of them burned to death or suffocated in the Trade Union Building.
During the fire, the head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region Bodelan Vladimir Ruslanovich was located directly on Kulikovo Field.
Immediately after the tent caught fire, people began calling 101 and asking for fire trucks to be dispatched immediately. However, there were no firefighters, and everyone noticed. People tried to provide assistance to the victims themselves from the Trade Union Building.
On his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/vladimir.bodelan.1/posts/407148279425030) Bodelan V.R. blamed the rioters for everything: “As soon as we took the fire truck, the head of the city department of the State Emergency Service and I went to the Trade Union House. By this time, at 19:31, the first calls were received about the tents on fire and a violent confrontation.
As soon as I noticed several burning tires being thrown into the building's lobby on sticks, I called the operations officer and gave the order for our units to move in. This was at 19:58 PM.
By the time the fire trucks arrived, despite the visible fire in the building, they were still throwing Molotov cocktails and shooting at the windows. The crowd of thousands prevented the fire truck from passing for quite some time. The most terrifying aspect of this situation was that the fire crews, having arrived on time, were unable to extinguish the fire due to gunfire and resistance from the attackers.
Fire crews arriving at the scene were immediately confronted by the hostile group, which refused to let them pass and attempted to retake the building. Precious time was wasted trying to reach the Trade Union House.
While we were negotiating with those who detained us, one vehicle finally made it to the building from the rear, and a unit engaged the fire and began rescuing people. At 20:09 PM, the unit began evacuating people and extinguishing the fire."
Later, a copy of the OKC telephone call transcript was leaked to the media, revealing that calls about the fire in the Trade Union House itself began coming in as early as 19:45 PM. At 20:07 PM, the head of the regional police department called 101, shouting, "Where are the fire trucks?"
On May 11, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine decided to conduct an internal investigation. On June 03, 2014, the investigation was completed, and the head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine decided to discipline R.V. Bodelan for violations committed during the firefighting operation.
The official investigation report states: "According to written statements from the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Odessa Region, Colonel of the Civil Defense Service V.V. Gubai, Yu.M. Shvidenko, S.M. Koeva, and the dispatcher of the duty shift of the OKC Ponomareva, the Head of the Main Directorate, Major of the Civil Defense Service V.R. Bodelan, provided information by telephone at approximately 19:32 p.m. that he was at Kulikovo Field, where a violent confrontation was taking place, and that equipment and personnel were to be dispatched only upon his command. The duty shift, following his verbal order, did not dispatch a fire and rescue unit to the scene."
From the transcript of the OKC telephone conversations, signed directly by V.R. Bodelan, the call and conversation when he gave the order not to send fire engines to the fire was naturally excluded.
This indicates that “precious time” was lost not because of “an attack by a hostile group,” but because of the personal, deliberate negligence and inaction of the former head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region, V.R. Bodelan.
And instead of bringing him to criminal responsibility, he was subjected to disciplinary action, limited to a reprimand.
As far as is known, investigative actions against Bodelan V.R. have been terminated.
Below are excerpts from the official investigation report.
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