A fire service spokesman said that the flames have spread over a front of several kilometers in mountain areas which are difficult to reach
NICOSIA, July 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cyprus requested urgent help from Israel and the European Union (EU) on Saturday to fight a huge fire that raged out of control in the country’s southern region.
The fire started at about 2:00 p.m. on Saturday near the village of Arakapas, about 35 kilometers northeast of the port city of Limassol, leaving several houses and an unspecified number of cars burned out in some communities.
Authorities said that they have evacuated at least five villages northeast of Limassol and have alerted four other villages.
Cyprus and Israel have a standing arrangement to help each other in fighting forest fires and have done so several times in the past few years.
Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides said that Greece responded to an EU signal by sending two firefighting airplanes which are on their way to Cyprus.
Charalambos Alexandrou, director at the Department of Forests, said that several firefighting aircraft are dousing the flames but added that the task of fighting the fires is at present impossible.
The Fire Brigade and the Department of Forests have fought several fires in the past few days as temperatures soared.
The EU’s executive, the European Commission, said fire-fighting planes had departed from Greece to battle the fire and Italy was also planning to deploy aerial fire-fighters.
The EU’s emergency Copernicus satellite was also activated to provide damage assessment maps of the affected areas, the Commission said in a statement.
“It is the worst forest fire in the history of Cyprus,” Forestries Department Director Charalambos Alexandrou told Cyprus’s Omega TV.
Attempts were being made to prevent the blaze from crossing the mountains and stop it before reaching Machairas, a pine forestland and one of the highest peaks in Cyprus.
Alexandrou said the perimeter of the fire was “at least 40 kilometres”.
Dozens of properties were damaged, but no injuries were reported. There were widespread power cuts in the area. Plumes of smoke were visible in the capital Nicosia, some 75 km away.
“This is a very difficult day for Cyprus. All of the state’s mechanisms are in gear, and the priority is for no loss of life,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades tweeted.
The cause of the fire, which started around midday, was unclear. Cyprus has experienced a heatwave this week, with temperatures exceeding 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Police said they were questioning a 67 year old person in connection with the blaze.
“It passed through like a whirlwind, it destroyed everything,” said Vassos Vassiliou, the community leader of Arakapas, one of the communities affected. — NNN-AGENCIES
