The fire, which turned out to be the largest one in the whole history of Cyprus is raging for the 4th day. The first centres of ignition appeared on Saturday in the Polis region. Luckily, it was extinguished in very short period of time and without any human injuries. However, on Sunday, the new fire started near the Spilia village near Nicosia. Due to the hot temperature and strong winds the fire spread over to the neighboring villages of Ayia Irini, Kannava and later to Agios Theodoros. During the 24 hours, more than 40 calls for help were received by the fire service. Overall, 28 centers of ignition were registered. On Monday, the specialized aircrafts from Israel, Greece and Great Britain joined the fight against the fire. At night, due to weaker wind, the helicopters stopped operationg, however next morning the fire begun to spread even further.
The Ministry of Interior has addressed to the European Union to provide several fire fighting aircrafts.
Italy and France has also joined the fire fighting forces. Later, it was announced that it is not enough, so the Cypriot authorities have asked the Russian Federation for help.
The Forestry Department in cooperation with the Fire fighting service of Cyprus have sent 70 fire engines and 350 firefighters. Later, due to the extensive scale, volunteer centres were also set up. The largest one is located in the Galata village. The volunteer service broadcasts the call to join the volunteer forces on the central radio station. More than 1,500 individuals have responded to this call.
fire fighting service were performing ground-based operations. Unfortunately, two firemen died during the operation. Two men aged 44 and 49 were sent to the mountains from Nicosia. The President of Cyprus has proclaimed them to be the Heroes of the country and arranged to pay out compensation to their families. Furthermore, Nicos Anastasiades has cancelled all of his official visits. The Cyprus authorities announced the national mouring.
The video report from the scene is available on the Cyprus Inform website and on the Russia Radio Page on Facebook.
