The Kingsport Fire Department recently added 11 new firefighters to its ranks. One of the newest recruits – Dmytro Artemenko – hails from the City of Dnipro, the fourth-largest city in Ukraine.
Artemenko, his wife and two young children, came to the United States in June 2022 under the Uniting for Ukraine program – a federal program that provides a pathway for Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members to come to the United States.
“I’m here because I think about the safety of my family. It’s a good country for my family,” Artemenko said. ““I’m happy to be a firefighter. It was my dream to be a firefighter in the United States.”
Artemenko, 31, is no stranger to the fire service. Prior to arriving in the United States, Artemenko served as a firefighter, fire instructor and Deputy Chief in Ukraine. In 2019, he worked at a fish company in Alaska for three months under a temporary work visa and then when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Artemenko decided it was time to bring his family to America.
“We had friends in Miami, and they asked us to stay there, but Miami was too hot and expensive for us,” Artemenko said. “Our friends also have family in Kingsport, and they introduced Kingsport as beautiful, safe, not too expensive and a good place to find a job. I said ‘ok,’ we can go to Kingsport.”
Artemenko added he was extremely grateful to the leadership of the Kingsport Fire Department for the opportunity to help people and be on the same team with such great firefighting professionals.
Artemenko has been assigned to a shift and is completing his initial 16 hour and 64 hour required training for the State of Tennessee Fire Commission. For the time being, Artemenko will be stationed at Fire Station #1 while he gets acclimated to the Kingsport area and where the other seven fire stations are located.
“It was obvious during our interview that even though he was from another country, Dmytro had a great passion for the fire service,” said Assistant Chief Terry Arnold. “I look forward to seeing what’s in store for Dmytro as he takes his prior training and knowledge as a leader in the Ukraine fire service and merges it with the training we’ll provide him here in Northeast Tennessee.”
