Rescuer Day in Kazakhstan (19/10)

In 2008, Rescuer Day was added to professional holidays in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Starting this year, employees of the fire, water rescue, and civil defense services celebrate a single professional holiday.

The service itself, related to the prevention and liquidation of the consequences of emergency situations, appeared in the system of government bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan on October 19, 1995. It was this day – on October 19 that became the date of the professional holiday of rescuers, as employees of these services are commonly called, – then the State Committee for Emergency Situations was established in 1995.

Today, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan – is a powerful professional structure in the system of state bodies of the Republic, performing such responsible tasks as preventing and combating the consequences of all kinds of emergency situations.

The work of rescuers is very difficult, multifaceted and requires high professionalism, which consists of both excellent knowledge of the theoretical knowledge base and well-functioning practical actions on a case-by-case basis. Among other things, this work is also dangerous, as it involves the risk of a rescuer for his life while performing his professional duty. It is worth remembering that many rescuers gave their lives to save the lives of other people in critical situations.

Even an incomplete list of the work of rescue services already allows us to imagine how wide the scope of their activities is, as well as the high responsibility and risk that falls on the shoulders of professionals: rescuing a drowning person or a ship in distress on the water, localizing and extinguishing fires, rescuing people from burning buildings, eliminating the consequences of the destruction of residential buildings as a result of earthquakes or terrorist attacks (rescuing people from the rubble), localization and elimination of the consequences of accidents at chemical and nuclear energy facilities (elimination of the accident itself and evacuation of citizens from the zone of possible damage)…

The most important tasks of rescuers also include training citizens to independently act competently in a particular critical situation. For this purpose, Civil Defense courses are organized, training seminars are held for citizens, as well as lessons in educational institutions, fire authorities monitor public and private enterprises on their readiness for competent actions in the event of an emergency, and check the availability of the necessary means to ensure primary measures to combat fires, the availability of plans, main and backup routes for evacuating employees, as well as access to buildings for fire equipment.

It should be remembered that the rescue service of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, largely have a common theoretical, material and technical base, as well as glorious traditions that date back to the existence of the rescue services of the Soviet Union. These traditions are multiplied by the experience of rescuers from the now independent states of Kazakhstan and Russia. The Technical Institute in the city of Kokshetau trains specialists for the rescue services of Kazakhstan. As a result of intergovernmental agreements in the field of civil defense and emergency situations, a number of rescue service cadets are undergoing training at universities of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and Belarus.

Major emergencies anywhere in the world show the unity of rescuers as they join forces in the fight against disaster or man-made disaster.

Traditionally, Rescuer Day in the Republic of Kazakhstan is celebrated by holding festive events, awarding distinguished employees of various services of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and laying flowers at monuments and obelisks to comrades who died in the line of duty. On this day, all kinds of tournaments are held in fire and rescue sports, as well as other sports between representatives of various fire departments or Civil Defense services.

1649