Kadis wants stricter penalties, including life sentences for forest-fire arson (Update 5))

Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis said Friday he intends to resubmit a proposal for stricter penalties, including life in jail, for people who cause forest fires following a blaze in the Troodos area, which appears to have started through human negligence.

Authorities arrested two men, 47 and 54, in connection with the fire in a forested area in Pera Pedi, which could have easily spread to the Troodos forest.

It came as several communities were still reeling from a blaze last weekend, which killed four men and razed an area around 55 square kilometres of forest, cultivations, homes, and other properties.

“It was a really difficult and dangerous fire,” Kadis said of the Pera Pedi blaze that broke out at around 10am Friday.

“It broke out at a location with lush vegetation that is connected with the Troodos forest,” he added.

The minister said a huge catastrophe had been prevented thanks to the quick and extensive mobilisation of air and ground firefighting forces.

Kadis said it appeared that the fire started from human negligence, specifically construction work at a holiday home.

The head of the community, Lenas Markantonis, said he had witnessed the use of angle grinders and other tools that produce sparks or emit flame.

“It is really outrageous,” Kadis said, highlighting the fact that only a few days after the deadly blaze, another fire had been caused through negligence.

“We lost lives, we lost properties, we lost a green lung, and here we are again being reckless, engaging in actions without logic to put the Troodos forest in danger,” the minister said.

Kadis said he planned on resubmitting a proposal he made last year for stricter penalties, including life imprisonment for forest arson.

Later Friday, Attorney-general Giorgos Savvides said he has recommended a review of legal provisions relating to the lighting of fires, arson, and other similar offences, because they were scattered in different laws and in some cases overlapped.

In a letter to the ministries of agriculture, interior, and justice, Savvides said there were also inconsistencies in the severity of the penalties, creating problems in enforcement and undermining the pre-emptive function of the provisions in question.

Savvides recommended a thorough review of the laws and come up with proposals to update them so that they can respond to the times.

As part of the review, the attorney-general proposed considering the introduction of an offence relating to lighting a fire anywhere without permission that will not necessarily include causing damage, which will provide for a hefty fine beyond the prison sentence.

He further proposed legally forcing culprits to pay compensation for the damage their action had caused.

The Pera Pedi fire burned five hectares of forest and other vegetation but there was no damage to properties. It was brought under control a couple of hours later.

The forestry department said firefighters had responded to a forest fire which broke out around 10.15 on Friday morning, with land and air crews immediately dispatched to the area.

Forestry department spokesman Andreas Christou told CyBC that there was a danger the fire could grow rapidly as the area is quite hard to reach, with dense, dry vegetation.

Nearby homes were also evacuated as a precaution.

The forestry department said 80 of its personnel with 20 fire trucks, 15 fire fighters from the fire department with five trucks, four officials from the game service with two trucks as well as members of the civil defence, police, the national guard and Limassol district office and community boards had tackled the blaze.

They were assisted by nine fire fighting aircraft, including two helicopters from the British Bases.

This comes almost a week from last weekend’s catastrophic fires in the hilly areas of Larnaca and Limassol that killed four people and burned around 55 square kilometres of land, which included homes, businesses, farmland and pine forest.

It was, the government said, the most devastating fire in living memory.

Ten communities in mountainous Limassol and Larnaca are still reeling, with a package of support measures just announced by the Cabinet on Wednesday.