Responding to the fire in Uman

Just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, November 21, a fire broke out in the building next to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman, Ukraine. United Hatzalah volunteers from the Uman chapter rushed to the scene and evacuated school children who were studying in a nearby Talmud Torah. Following the evacuation of the children, the volunteers returned and evacuated the Torah scrolls in all of the nearby buildings due to the heavy smoke billowing towards the synagogues and yeshivas from the blaze.

The blaze caused a loss of electrical power to the area, including to the building that houses the gravesite. Due to the quick response of the volunteers, the incident ended with no injuries.

“Last night we graduated another 12 EMT volunteers in Uman; this morning they already went into action,” said founder and president of United Hatzalah, Eli Beer, after he heard about the incident.

Removing the Torah scrolls from buildings near the fire

Lazar Hyman, deputy CEO of the organization in charge of volunteer activities, was present during the graduation, as were various officials from the city and Jewish community.

“In an effort to improve response times in various Jewish communities in the Ukraine, including Uman, we have begun sending course instructors from Israel to the Jewish communities in Ukraine who will lead additional EMT training courses. This will greatly improve the lifesaving abilities of our teams there throughout the entire year.”

Head of the United Hatzalah team in Uman, Yisroel Starrik, said: “United Hatzalah’s international dispatch center is working round the clock and is always ready to dispatch our volunteers to emergency calls throughout Uman and the surrounding area. Our emergency number in the Ukraine is 063-800-1221.”

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