The fires in Attica, Greece, where the Cypriot Forestry Department is operating is so far under control, a member of the team said on Saturday.

Forestry officer Stavros Mouchlis said all air and ground forces will be on alert on Saturday and Sunday, due to the continuing extremely high temperatures.

He told the Cyprus News Agency that developments are always unpredictable during a fire.

“No one can predict even for the same day how such a situation will develop,” he said, adding that the forces in the area of Dervenochoria have not been released and remain on alert due to the weather conditions.

He noted that there are constant flare-ups, although at the time of the interview there was no fire blazing in Dervenochoria.

“The fire was huge, the perimeter is very large and usually in the afternoon hours we have constant flare-ups.”

Those flare-ups are small “but dangerous”, Mouchlis said, since they can result in a fire developing if they are not controlled.

Aircraft will be operating until Saturday evening to deal with any reignitions.

Asked if the Cypriot team should go to Rhodes, where a large-scale fire is still raging, Mouchlis said “this will depend on the local authorities here.”

He said the Cypriot mission, of two aircraft and a ground unit, has already expressed its readiness to go to Rhodes. “We are waiting for the officials here to give us guidelines,” he said.

He said there has been no request for more Cypriot firefighters to be sent.

In relation to the return of the Cypriot mission to Cyprus, there is still no official update due to the uncertainty of the situation. It is noted that the Cypriot mission is currently operating from the Tatoi airbase in the Dervenochoria area along with two Israeli and two Australian aircraft of the same type.

Since Monday, multiple wildfires broke out across Greece, including one which led to the evacuation of over 1,000 children from a summer camp.