Voluntary Forest Firefighters Camp
Russian Federation
Environment
Environment
Fixed dates
About the project
Voluntary Forest Firefighters Camp
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Volunteer Forest Firefighter Society was established in 2008 by the group of active people who were alarmed by the situation with fires at the Ladoga-Lake region. Local governmental services of natural area protection was not able to handle fire extinguishing at the numerous islands scattered on the lake surface.
The project is aiming for prevention and extinguishing the fire, education of local community, pointing out the problem. Also recognition the value of this area and National Park status assignment for it, as long-term goal.
The islands of the lake have unique vegetation. It is home for many rare species of animals, birds and plants; fragile ecosystem which takes several hundred years to recover from the fire.
That’s why we consider that this place needs to be protected and saved for next generations.
The people of our organization are engineers, biologists, teachers, architects, students etc. Now it has become a pretty big community that unites very different people with diverse backgrounds and quite wide geography. All participants are volunteers ready to spend their vacation or weekend for the purpose of environmental protection.
Since 2008 we had increased our skills and capacities on field of prevention and fighting the fire. We educate and prepare our volunteers through different trainings and practical seminars right at the campsite. We’ve gained a lot of experience on how to make our project more sustainable and effective and will be glad to share it with new motivated volunteers.
💼 What the programme involves
Normally there are 10-15 Russian volunteers in the camp but their number changes all the time. There are no any fixed groups: people come for as long as they can according to the needs of the camp.
The leader of the camp is the person who is in charge for functioning the camp. It is not permanent position, and usually every two weeks he or she passes the duties to next leader.
There is large variety of tasks:
− Detecting and putting out fires;
− Monitoring the land from motor boats.
− Monitoring the land through binoculars from various islands.
− Running the camp (housekeeping tasks, help with meal preparation)
− Also we organise Islands Cleaning Events: group of our volunteers (rubbish tream) goes by boat to some popular island often visited by tourists and clean it up from rubbish, install info boards.
Working hours: 3-8 hours/day, however it can vary depending on weather, current tasks and number of people. When it’s dry and hot we focus on patrolling and observation of the area. Each volunteer should be ready to move if the alarm appears. It is important to keep in mind that the main goal of this camp is to detect and extinguish forest fires - it is priority task and rest of work, day routines and discipline are built around it.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Since there are already 8 years the project exists, we’ve manage to organize our life in the camp in most convenient way.
We have electricity from the generator: every tree or two days batteries, accumulators and other items may be charged. There is free wi-fi and even water tab made by our ingenious volunteers. We use organic hand-made wash up liquid or purchase eco-friendly one. We separate our rubbish and transport it to St.Petersburg for recycling.
The laundry can be done in the lake or we have several basins and soap.
There is sauna-tent with a stove and hot stones. We use wood to heat it up and make washing process comfortable and pleasant. The wood is taken from the nearest island, which was affected by the fire about 10 years ago and has plenty of dead dry trees.
There are tents for 2-4 people in the camp. Please, bring your own mat and sleeping bag. If you have your own tent, please bring it with you. If not, we will manage to find the tent for you but be ready for neighbors.
Food is cooked on bonfire and on gas stove. Many of our participants are vegetarians and all the dishes made without meat, but if you like you may add can-meat or fish to your plate. We use water from the lake for cooking.
This year we’ve published Ladoga Cook Book, which is about how we make our menu more interesting and diverse within the limits of low budget and remoteness from supermarkets. But anyway you should be ready for porridge! There is no way to avoid it☺
And of course if you want bring some specialties from your country you’re warmly welcome!
ATTENTION! Alcohol in the camp is strictly forbidden!
📍 About the location
Ladoga is one of the biggest fresh water lake in Europe. It is situated in the Republic of Karelia in the north-west of Russia. Closest big city is Saint. Petersburg which locates about 2,5 hours by train South direction.
The camp is based on the island Pieni-Hepposaari in 30-40 minutes from the mainland by boat. One of our coordinators will assist the new volunteers with arrival to the camp.
Free time activities: The amount of free time strongly depends on weather. There may be three days raining, and that case volunteers have plenty of free time to sleep, read, chat, or play games. We like gather around bonfire for singing with guitar.
For newcomers we organise different trainings and practical seminars:
- Sailing a boat;
- How to work with water pumps and different equipment;
- Fire trainings;
- Orienteering: how to use GPS, work with maps, define azimuth;
- First aid;
- Knots;
- What to do if you or your fellow dropped overboard? It’s literally practical;
- Radio: how to use walkie-talkie, number codes.
This year in beginning of July we will be hosting Greenpeace firefighters training camp. It's an educational event annually happening in our camp. It is aimed for those who already involved in firefighting protection or want organise volunteer group in their regions, so the event gathers participants from different parts of Russia. The volunteers may joins Greenpeace sessions if the weather allows it.
The nature is very specific Nordic type and it’s incredibly beautiful! Sometimes you may spend hours just watching the waves or observing birds. Also swimming is nice especially if you like cold water☺ In July it’s usually warm enough already for people, not only for seals who are our close neighbors.
IMPORTANT: In the hot time there might be a lot of fires which means free time for sleep only.
⚠️ Requirements
For those who have no camping experience, life at the island far away from civilization without some regular facilities may be too tough and stressful. Also the weather may be severe and unpredictable what should be taken into consideration.
As the activities taken at the firefighter’s camp associates with danger, the insurance is obligatory!
To sum everything up, for this project we seek for motivated volunteers with outdoor camping experience, ready for challenging and sometimes very demanding conditions. Also it’s better to have at least basic knowledge of Russian language or be ready to learn it right in the camp.
Also we ask the applicants to send the letter of motivation.
Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.
Sign in to apply📅 Available sessions
W4U-MTV-02
15/06/2016 → 14/07/2016
Volunteers registered
0 / 2
♂ 0/1
♀ 0/1
ℹ️ Key information
Age required
18–99 years old
Solidarity donation
0.00
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
Lake Ladoga, Russia
Russian Federation
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Russia Ruble (RUB / ₽)
Exchange rate
1 RUB = 0.010802 EUR
Rate as of 31/05/2026
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🗣️ Languages spoken
English
Russian