In winter, during wartime, any number of obstacles can make life difficult for firefighters in Lyman.

Cell service is so bad in this eastern Ukrainian city that there’s a good chance an emergency call won’t go through at all. Water is sparse, leaving the city’s only aging firetruck with barely enough to fight a blaze. Some streets on its outskirts are impassable because of mines and unexploded munitions.

And then there are the windows.