Fire in Paphos under partial control (update 2)

A fire that broke out earlier between the villages Faleia and Pentalia in Paphos is under partial control, the fire service said on Tuesday night.

The fire burned around 2.5 square kilometres of dry vegetation, scrub, reeds and vineyards, but nearby livestock farms were protected, according to spokesman Andreas Kettis.

Authorities were alerted at around 1.25pm about a blaze between the two villages.

Initially fire engines responded from the Kelokedara and Stroumbi stations, but later reinforcements on land and air arrived from the Paphos, Limassol, Larnaca and Nicosia stations, the forestry department and the game and fauna service.

Fourteen fire engines, a bulldozer and seven aircraft were involved in the operation.

Five hours later, Kettis reported that the fire remained out of control as one front moved towards a hard-to-reach area.

It was finally brought under partial control around 8pm.

Firefighting forces will remain at the scene overnight to extinguish the last of the flames and handle potential reignitions, Kettis said.

Meanwhile, in the Famagusta district, fire fighting forces were called in to put out a blaze in Paralimni that erupted at around 1.40pm.

The blaze was contained some two hours later. It burned half a hectare of wild vegetation, two large hay bales and acacia trees.