Rescuers tell – Vitaly Sobolev

Today, Vitaly Sobolev, 1st class rescuer of the Search and Rescue Support Service of the Moscow Aviation Center, answers the questions of our Rescuers Tell column.

How did you get into the lifeguard profession? How old were you and what did you do before (what profession did you get)?

I got into the profession, one might say, by accident. Passing a medical examination at the military flight school of transport aviation, I found out that my height is not suitable for training on airplanes, which means I won’t be able to enter. Therefore, he submitted documents to the Academy of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia at the command and engineering faculty. Already in the third year, he began working as a lifeguard, quickly got into the rhythm and fit into the team, got carried away.

– What is the most difficult thing in your profession?

I think to adapt the psyche to the constant clash with human grief. There are few funny moments in our profession, each trip is the fate of some person, an accident. Over time, you adapt, the main thing is that this happens correctly – without professional burnout and dulling of emotions. Despite the difficulties, it is necessary to remain a person who is sincerely ready to help, to sympathize.

Tell us about a particularly memorable case from practice.

Once we were called to catch a snake, which, for unknown reasons, ended up under a woman’s refrigerator. After examining the kitchen and moving the furniture, we did not find anyone. For a second, even a share of doubt crept in – “was there a snake.” But the applicant maintained that she had definitely seen an animal crawling under the refrigerator. The idea arose to check the “riser” in the bathroom – this is a possible way in which the reptile could get into the apartment and crawl out of it. It was as if they were looking into the water – in the toilet room behind the door of the inspection hatch, a bright orange tail was waiting for us, the snake itself had almost crawled upstairs. Grabbing “luck by the tail”, we rescued the intruder, but she briskly slid through the hole in the wall under the bath. Here already had to resort to special means. When the snake was caught by the head, the only thing left was to put it in a prepared bag for further transfer to specialists. It was possible to securely lock the snake only the second time – the rebellious reptile tried to escape all the time. We handed over the uninvited guest to a specialist from the capital’s zoo.

– What do you do outside of work?

In love with the sky and flying since childhood, I spend my free time in the air. I received a private pilot’s license and, together with a friend, purchased a sports training aircraft. Now we fly with him and admire the earthly and unearthly beauties from the cockpit of our own aircraft. But I love not only to soar above the clouds, but also with pleasure I repair, paint and even restore old planes.

– Wish something to your colleagues for the Day of the Rescuer.

Let the number of departures always coincide with the number of returns in full force – healthy and unharmed!