Efforts continue to battle Limassol fire

Efforts continued on Friday to fight a fire which broke out in the Limassol village of Ayios Sylas the previous day.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), fire brigade spokesman Andreas Kettis said two aircraft alongside “strong ground firefighting forces” are fighting to extinguish the fire.

In addition, he said, they are expecting to receive reinforcements from two firefighting helicopters to be sent from the British Bases later on Friday.

He added that firefighters “faced some flareups” overnight, and that there have been some small outbreaks of fire in the area.

With this in mind, he said the fire brigade is on “high alert” to deal with potential flareups throughout the day given the expected propensity of high winds throughout the day.

The fire had burned around six square kilometres of shrubland by nightfall on Thursday, but had eventually been brought under control.

Kettis had said on Thursday evening that a total of 24 fire engines had been deployed on the ground, while an aeroplane belonging to the forestry department was also fighting the fire from above alongside a National Guard helicopter and two other helicopters from the British Bases.

The fire had initially broken out at around 11am on Thursday, with strong winds causing it to spread rapidly.