Three villages were evacuated on Tuesday as wildfires blazed out of control in the Paphos district, wrapping homes and animals in flames.
Choulou and Lemona villages were evacuated after Psathi village due to an unrelated fire that broke out nearby.
Paphos district officer George Chrysapinis stated that there is no longer a threat to human life and that the fire is currently shifting away from Psathi and towards the village of Lemona.
He said that he was unsure of the extent of the damage and the number of houses that had burned down, but that the district administration was prepared to assist in locating temporary housing for those impacted, should that be needed.
Five planes and several ground-based vehicles are battling the fires, and ambulances have been dispatched to assist locals who are having breathing problems.
Furthermore, members of public have brought hurt animals to veterinarians for care.
Charalambos Pittokopitis, the recently elected district governor of Paphos, called the fire “tragic” in the meantime.
He states that he was in the front of the fire and have communicated with the forestry department director Savvas Iezekiel who was in Larnaca and with the director-general of the agriculture ministry, who was in Crete.
“Not all the aerial firefighting equipment available to the Republic of Cyprus can be used as the personnel for some of it has not been trained,” he added, calling it “worrying.”
He said “Even though it is the middle of summer, with all of this heat and drought, the staff has not received any training.”
In other news, President Nikos Christodoulides visited the JRCC on Tuesday night after returning “hurriedly” from Jordan.
Residents of the area helped put out the fires, which were putting Psathi’s Ayia Paraskevi church in danger. Fire trucks from all around the district were reportedly called in.
No casualties have been reported, according to local resident Andreas Constantinou. Nevertheless, other neighbours claimed that the area’s firefighting equipment is currently inadequate and that “this happens every year and proper measures are not taken.”
The government’s Pyrsos plan has been activated, according to fire brigade spokesman Andreas Kettis, and a ministerial team is meeting at the JRCC to coordinate the suppression of the fire.
Along with the director of the forestry department and the chief of the fire brigade, the ministers of defence, justice, and agriculture are present.
Kettis went on to say that the administration is working to obtain aircraft from Greece, Israel, Jordan, and the European Union.
The request from Jordan was made in person since Christodoulides was visiting the nation for the Dead Sea Summit about Gaza’s future.
King Abdullah of Jordan reportedly agreed to Christodoulides’ request for air support, “immediately giving instructions to take whatever actions are needed to send the aircraft to Cyprus.”
According to Michalis Nikolaou, assistant operations chief for the Paphos police, the fire in Psathi was “heading dangerously” towards Ayios Dimitrianos and was located near the village entrance.
Although the precise source of the fire is yet unknown, the fire department reported that it originated in an area with sparse vegetation and dry grass.
As the fire grew stronger earlier in the day, three helicopters were also sent in: two from Jordan and one from the National Guard. Then another helicopter was sent in, along with additional forces from Limassol.
The villages of Polemi, Ayios Dimitrianos, Psathi, Drymou, Yolou, and Drymia are currently engulfed in flames.
(Soruce: Cyprus Mail)
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