The team of experts from the United States’ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) who are carrying out an investigation into the cause of and circumstances surrounding the wildfire which tore through the Limassol district and killed two people last month will meet President Nikos Christodoulides on August 18, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.

He told the Cyprus News Agency on Saturday that the team will meet Christodoulides “after completing their investigations” and will present him with “preliminary data”, before an analytical report will be submitted “in the coming weeks”.

The ATF team began its fieldwork near the Limassol district village of Malia, where the fire broke out, on Thursday, and has been tasked with providing Cypriot authorities with “assistance and expertise”.

They were joined by members of the fire brigade and the police on Thursday.

Their presence aims to help ensure that should wildfires break out in the future, the various arms of the government involved will be better prepared to coordinate a joint response.

The group is also set to examine the management of the fire and the actions taken to deal with it.

Once the analytical report has been submitted, the ATF team’s work will enter what has been described as a “second phase”, in which they will assist the Cypriot authorities in “acquiring know-how regarding the investigation of incidents of this nature”.

This phase may also entail the training of Cypriot first responders.

On Thursday, the team’s supervisor Brian Lovin said it is his team’s intention is to work “as efficiently as possible” to give the answers to questions the government has asked regarding the fire.

“Our primary goal here is to work with the law enforcement and fire brigade officials here to determine the origin and cause of this particular fire,” he said.