A fire that broke out on Thursday at 8pm at the Akamas municipality green point was no accident, mayor Marinos Lambrou said on Friday.

The fire was put out by the fire department and municipality crews with excavators and a tanker.
On Friday, Lambrou visited the scene, along with Paphos environment department head Costas Voskos and Green party MP and chairman of the House environment committee Charalambos Theopemptou.

Lambrou told the Cyprus News Agency that the fire caused a stench and that the burned materials had been covered with earth.

He pointed out that there were houses just 500m from the site.

“These fires are recurring and not at all random,” he said.

Theopemptou said waste was being taken to the site on the outskirts of Peyia for burning, which was “unacceptable”.

The local authorities, he added, were aware of the situation.

Theopemptou said all waste materials should be collected for processing and that burning them in an open space could not continue.

Fires, he pointed out, were forbidden by the Stockholm convention and the law.

“In sensitive areas, such as these, which are beautiful, one cannot light fires in nature and indeed without a permit,” Theopemptou said.

“Unfortunately, to avoid paying, they set fire to the waste, placing the area in danger and polluting the atmosphere.”