Charalambos Savva, the deputy mayor of the Paphos district village of Ayia Marinouda, called for stricter checks on landfills, after a fire broke out at a landfill site in his village and burned out of control for several hours last week.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, he said the area surrounding his village is “full of illegal landfills” and added that this is “especially” the case in the nearby villages of Konia, Marathount, and Ayia Varvara, some of which are located within the Ierokipia municipality, of which he is a part, and some of which are outside municipal limits.

In those villages, he said, “old furniture, rubbish, electrical appliances, wood and rubble are dumped”.

He said that as such, his village and those nearby “are at risk of burning”, especially given the existence of a former dumping ground for aggregates – stone, natural and industrial waste materials – near Marathounta.

He said that since the site was closed in 2017, “no restoration measures have been taken”, even despite appeals made by himself and his village council.

“The competent authorities have not shown any interest,” he said, adding that the continued existence of the site is a “serious problem” which poses a “great risk” to the area.

The fire had broken out in Ayia Marinouda last Wednesday and was brought under control shortly before midnight on the same day, though not before strong winds could fan the flames and spread the fire beyond the landfill and into the nearby countryside.

A total of 10 villages in the Paphos district were left without electricity for several hours due to the fire, while game service senior officer Nikos Kassinis described the fire as a “major environmental disaster”, saying that the fire had broken out “in an area of outstanding natural beauty”.

Last Thursday, Paphos mukhtars’ union leader Michalis Nikandrou had also stressed the issue of illegal landfills in the area, though he did say the number of illegal landfills in the Paphos district has been “limited”.

“Our aim is to create controlled areas within villages where people will be able to place various materials,” which will then be taken away to be disposed of correctly.

District governor Charalambos Pittokopitis, meanwhile, said the fire caused a “huge ecological disaster”, but did add that “the good men of the fire brigade acted immediately, going above and beyond”.

He also called on the environment department to “act on the issue” of smoke and other gases being emitted from the landfill site.

“It is the responsibility of all of us to take preventative measures” to prevent more fires, he added.

Meanwhile, civil defence deputy spokeswoman Chara Lazarou described the stress of the night in Paphos to the Cyprus News Agency, saying, “there were moments when it seemed that houses were really in danger, people who were in pain, and who said could not leave their homes”.

Nevertheless, she added, the civil defence had to evacuate people from their homes “for safety reasons”.

She said that what was “etched” in her mind after having worked through the fire was “the panic and despair, the desperation of some people, who knew that there were farms below where their grandparents lived, who did not know If they had evacuated or if they were still there”.