CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (CBS SF) — A Contra Costa County firefighter has recently returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he helped other first responders there bring closure to families and provided search and rescue training.
“Since the war started, just being a firefighter, we all have the urge to help where help is needed,” said David Zalutskiy, an East Bay fire engineer.
He said he saw a post on social media from another firefighter in the state saying they were going to Ukraine. Zalutskiy reached out, and when the opportunity came, he didn’t hesitate.
“It hit a little closer to home for me I think.” he said.
Zalutskiy was born in Ukraine and came to the U.S. with his family when he was 2 years old. He also still has family there.
He said he was prepared for the search and rescue calls to come in, but describes the first few days as a “shock.”
“Seeing the damage and the devastation is something I’ve never seen before or a natural human eye should ever have to see,” Zalutskiy said.
He said in a day, he would wake up, eat breakfast, go to a town and search the wreckage of destroyed apartment buildings.
“We were looking for possible life in the apartments that nobody was able to enter because of the strong construction, these doors had nine bolts running through the doors,” he said. “So with our training here that we have, we were able to get in through these doors and search and help bring some closure to families. We were able to recover a lot of paperwork, passports and documents for families.”
Zalutskiy said he served as one of the translators for the group. He also helped provide training to firefighters in Ukraine.
“Valuable training for them to help not just firefighting and rescuing people but also keeping them alive and getting them to hospitals,” he said.
Zalutskiy said the brotherhood among firefighters extends beyond the Bay Area and even the U.S.
“Just being there for me was important for them. Cooking them a hot meal when they didn’t have hot water or power at their station for weeks,” he said.
He spent about three weeks in Ukraine and came back feeling more grateful.
“Checking out these apartments looking for life and you see somebody’s breakfast still on the table, it’s been there for a few days, it makes you think you got to treasure your life,” he said.
The mission to Ukraine with other firefighters was through Project Joint Guardian.
Zalutskiy says they’re hoping to plan another trip. They have a fundraiser set up online. They say it’s to help raise money to get rescue equipment and medical supplies to firefighters in Ukraine.
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