FIRE-fighters late yesterday afternoon brought under control a large blaze in Limassol, the last in a string of fires that started on Sunday, prompting the evacuation of two villages.
“All fires are under full control and strong ground forces remain in the area to guard against potential re-ignition,” fire service spokeswoman Lisa Kemidji said last night. “They will remain there for as many days and nights as necessary.”
Authorities have arrested 57-year-old man in connection with one of the fires near Hirokitia, in the Larnaca district, that burned some 13 square kilometres of wild shrub.
Police said the man, who was remanded in custody for three days, is thought to have tried to burn wild shrubs.
Fanned by strong winds and helped by the high temperatures, several fires broke out across the Republic over the weekend - some bigger than others - stretching forces to the limit.
Yesterday, dozens of fire-fighters from various services, aided by eight aircraft, 20 fire engines, and several excavators, managed to bring under control a large blaze near the village of Vouni, which had forced authorities to order its evacuation in the morning.
But a change in the direction of the wind took the fire away from Vouni with residents staying put though on high alert.
Authorities said the Vouni fire started near the road and the circumstances were still under investigation.
For one resident it was pretty simple: fires do not start on their own.
“But there must be imprisonment … 20-30 years, end of story,” he said.
The fire started on Sunday with crews fighting through the night to bring it under control.
It reignited yesterday morning, aided by the strong winds blowing on the island in the past couple of days.
“The good thing is that the helicopters were able to drop water. They could not do that last [Sunday] night,” a resident told state television.
In total it burned around four square kilometres of wild shrub.
On Sunday, authorities were forced to evacuate the Larnaca communities of Skarinou and Kato Drys which had been threatened by a raging blaze that started near Hirokitia.
Authorities suspect the fire was started by a 57-year-old man trying to burn wild shrub in a field between Kato Drys and Hirokitia.
“According to testimony and findings on the scene, the owner tried to burn wild shrub,” said Larnaca police spokesman Christos Andreou. “Due to the strong winds the fire spread, burning 13 square kilometres of wild vegetation and small trees.”
Four people - two members of the civil defence and two firemen - sustained light injuries during the effort to put out the blaze.
Andreou said they are looking into some claims made by the suspect.
The evacuation order was given at 9pm with the blaze some 500 metres away from the first houses.
Residents were asked to assemble at the parking lot of a nearby supermarket where they were offered a meal while arrangements were being made for them to stay at hotels if necessary.
However, using excavators, fire-fighters managed to create firebreaks eliminating the danger two hours later.
President Demetris Christofias who visited the area commended the fire-fighters for their selfless efforts.
A separate fire in Ayios Sylas, Limassol, burned some two square kilometres of wild vegetation, olive and carob trees.
The blaze also killed an unspecified number of dogs, which were housed in private dwellings.
Though big, the scale of destruction of the fires was nowhere near that of other cases in the past couple of decades.
On June 29, 2007, Cyprus saw one of the biggest, and fiercest forest fires in the island’s modern history devour 12 square kilometres of forest in the Saittas area on the Troodos mountain range.
And in the same month seven years earlier, four days of raging fires destroyed some 50 square kilometres of pine, olive, carob, and shrub-covered mountains in the Limassol and Larnaca districts.
Again in June, but this time in 1995, a large blaze broke out on the Pentadaktylos mountain range burning some 80 square kilometres of forest and agricultural land.
It also burned 25 and damaged another 21 houses.
