Limassol blaze under control, a small front remains active (update 4)

A fire that was raging on three fronts in the Ayios Amvrosios are of Limassol has been brought under control on Tuesday evening.

“The fire is manageable. Only a small active front remains. Firefighting forces are attempting to suppress it. In addition, they’re also delineating the fire and making final extinguishments,” Fire Service spokesman Andreas Kettis said in a Twitter post.

The blaze burnt a total area of about 2 square kilometres, Kettis added.

“The fire will be monitored after it has been fully extinguished. The causes are under investigation in cooperation with the police,” he said.

For his part, community leader Stelios Gregoriou said he was confident that arson was to blame for the fire in the area of Agios Amvrosios, because as he explained, like yesterday’s fire, it started from the road.

“This fire was deliberate and we had a fire yesterday and this one was found to be deliberate,” he said.

Earlier in the afternoon, the fire had raged on three active fronts, one towards Pachna, one towards Vouni and one towards Ayios Amvrosios, with strong winds in the area making fighting it more difficult.

The Icarus emergency plan was implemented to fight the fire, which broke out at around 2pm in the area of Ayios Amvrosios.

Two holiday homes in the area were seriously damaged while police and civil defence officers had been clearing people out of their homes, some of which were also reportedly affected.

In addition, Kettis said that during the development of the fire, a large number of individual houses and livestock farms were protected.

Commissioner for Development of Mountain Communities, Costas Hambiaouris gave assuarances that the government will stand by those who have suffered damage from the blaze.

The Ayios Amvrosios road leading to the villages of Pachna and Omodos was closed due to the fire.

Meanwhile, the Electricity Authority of Cyprus announced a power cut in Ayios Amvrosios and Pachna from 6pm until approximately 8.30pm, Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported.

According to Kettis, an operations centre was set up and ground firefighting forces from all provinces and volunteers were assisting in the battle with the flames.

Fire trucks were deployed in the periphery of the Pachna, Agios Amvrosios and Vouni triangle.

Aircraft from the forestry department, the British Bases and the National Guard as well as police helicopters, have all deployed.

The Limassol district office has supplied water tankers, trucks and excavators.

Kettis urged the public to be particularly careful while the Fire Service is operating with security personnel.

He added that the exact damage will be announced after the end of the extinguishing operation.