The large fire in Akrounta, which burned over six square kilometres of Limassol state forest, was on Monday said to be under complete control following two nights of firefighting efforts.

Director of the Forestry Department Charalambos Alexandrou, speaking on CyBC’s morning programme, said he had personally been notified of the fire at 1.29pm on Saturday and within minutes action was taken.

Despite flare-ups overnight on Sunday the fire has been fully contained the director said.

“The fire is under complete control and forces are now stationed around its entire perimetre, at the ready for prompt response in the event of any more flare-ups,” Alexandrou added.

On Sunday morning the perimeter of the fire was estimated to be 11km.

Fire response coordinator Andreas Gregoriou confirmed earlier reports that the fire had been either maliciously or accidentally set.

Investigations into the fire’s causes are ongoing and police have interrogated six people with reports of video footage having emerged pointing to its being caused by human activity. However, there has been no definitive result as yet, authorities said.

Police have meanwhile issued a call to the public for anyone who has any other information to come forward with it.

Gregoriou added that the efforts of the firefighters had prevented the fire from spreading to private properties.

The fire was finally contained on Monday at 8am, helped in part by rain that fell on Sunday afternoon.

Akrountas community leader Ionas Ionas said that plastic irrigation pipes and crops were destroyed in addition to mainly pine trees in the state forest near Kakomali.

The fire burned along both sides of the Akrounta-Dierona road and into the forest.