‘We didn’t expect a fire this big’

The fire service on Friday apologised for not being able to help all those in need during the wildfire that swept through villages in mountainous Limassol destroying homes and killing two people, with its chief Nicos Longinos saying they had “set priorities”, admitting “we didn’t expect that it would reach these levels”.

“Our resources were not unlimited,” Longinos said, speaking on state TV.

He explained that “we set priorities […] if they said someone was hurt or burned we would give priority.

“There is always room for improvement. Certainly, an evaluation must be made,” he said.

He also underlined that blame should not be put on the president or the minister as it was he who was in charge of operations.

After any incident, which is not even of this scale, a meeting is held at headquarters and we discuss everything, Longinos said, adding that from the first moment “everything is being logged”.

“The fact that it was arson is not an excuse, if some people consider we are using it because we couldn’t contain the fire. I clarify this, because 95 per cent of fires are malicious or due to human error,” he added.

Friday’s efforts to put out the fire are being supported by 26 firefighters from Greece, who can help the fire service with any resurgences.

“They are three groups and we will keep them all together. They will operate in areas of resurgences. They are a great help. Our people are tired, they are exhausted,” Longinos said.

The fire chief referred to Omodos, where the fire proved to be extremely difficult to contain on Thursday.

“It was a difficult case. It was a good operation and we managed to put the fire out. If it went higher, it would have gone into the pine forest and it would be a very difficult situation. During the first 24 hours it was harder. We continuously had resurgences in residential areas, even near the industrial area,” he said.

Longinos mentioned the high temperatures and strong winds in the area, which are forecast to return on Friday, that made things worse.

“We had this fire and then we got the facts that it would develop […] but we didn’t expect that it would reach these levels. I immediately set [the scheme] Pyros in motion and half an hour later I decided to move the operation centre. I requested from the chief of police to have the large operation centre here and I started operating with volunteer groups and all involved services,” he said.

Longinos said “we then went into [another scheme] Ikarus, I spoke with the minister and he said he was coming here too, as well as the agriculture minister. The plan of the operation to put out the fire started. It was an unprecedented situation. In the 35 years I am in the service and if you ask the previous directors with so much experience, I think they will also tell you they have never lived such a situation.”

He also said that mountains areas have ravines and the wind force was 6 to 7 Beaufort.

Longinos said the president was in constant contact with the ministers and went to see the situation for himself. “When he realised [the situation], we began to coordinate the mechanism along with other European states,” he added.

He spoke of a “huge front” and that evacuations had to be made, moving thousands of people out of the area.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Longinos said it was a much better day as the fire had been contained and they knew its extent.

“However, we must be on alert, there must be forces there over the next few days as the temperatures are so high and humidity is low. The terrain in the area where the fire broke out is such that it creates a microclimate in these areas. The ravines or rivers or other installations in the area favour an increase in wind velocity, so we will be very careful and we hope that we will keep the fire at these levels,” he added.

Longinos said firefighters were at the scene six minutes after it started.

“It was an unprecedented situation for Cyprus,” he reiterated.

“We did our best to save as many houses as we could and save as many lives as we could.”