Heightened fire risk amid heatwave warning (Update)

The fires services responded to 21 fires over 24 hours the service announced on Thursday and issued an urgent warning to the public of extremely heightened fire risk due to the prevailing heatwave.

In a press release with the forestry department, they strongly urged the public to exercise extreme caution, avoiding actions and activities that are likely to cause a fire, such as the use of tools or agricultural machinery that produce heat, sparks or flame, such as welding and soldering.

From 6am Wednesday until 6am Thursday, the service dealt with 36 calls of which 21 were for fires.

At least 9,000 m2 of land was reported as burned in the fires, including 500 m2 of pine forest.

Burning grass, sticks and bushes is prohibited as is the lighting of fires anywhere in the countryside except for the preparation of food in the designated barbecue areas of camping sites.

Preventive measures should also be taken to avoid fire from the exhausts of various power generators or water pumps in the countryside, the statement said.

Lighting a fire within the state forests, or at a distance of 2 km from its limits without a permit, constitutes an offence punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of up to 50,000 euros or both.

The fires managed over the past 24-hour period, included one at 3.40pm on Wednesday, reported in scrublands between the communities of Peristerona and Orounda in Nicosia.

The blaze was extinguished shortly before 6pm, with the use of three fire vehicles from the Peristerona and Lakatamia stations, two vehicles from the forestry department, a mobile unit from the game service, volunteers from SupportCY, and three private farm vehicles.

The burnt area covered 5,000 m2 of wild vegetation, reeds, fruit and olive trees, and an abandoned horse farm which was damaged,

At 6.40pm the fire service responded to a blaze in the Kelokedara community near Zirpillos state forest.

Thirty-six people from the forestry department with 10 fire engines, five people from the fire service with two fire engines, three earth movers, a tanker, as well as volunteers from the surrounding communities, participated in extinguishing the fire. Two firefighting planes of the forestry department assisted from the air.

The fire was brought under control about four hours later on Wednesday night, around 11pm, having burned 3,000 m2 of land.

According to an announcement by the forestry department, 2,500 m2 of the land burned was croplands, reedbeds and other riverbank vegetation, and 500 m2 was state pine forest.

Ground forces will remain at the scene as long as necessary to prevent any flare-ups and the causes of the fire are being investigated.

At 7.42pm another call was received for a fire in a rural area near Kourdaka, also in Paphos. Two vehicles from the Stroumbi and Paphos stations, supported by a mobile unit from the game service, brought the fire under control shortly after 10pm. The fire burned 1,000 m2 of dry grass and scrublands and its causes are being investigated.

In the early hours after 3am on Thursday, the service was called to put out a fire in two vehicles parked in an underground space of a four-storey apartment building in the Agios Antoniou area of Nicosia.

The vehicles suffered extensive damage while three other nearby vehicles were also affected, as well as AC compressors and electricity installations. Police evacuated residents without any injuries and are investigating.

Shortly after 4am, police and the fire service responded to another incident in Nicosia at an uninhabited historical residence in Strovolos. The cause of the blaze, which slightly damaged the building’s wooden ceiling, is also under investigation.