Fire trucks are struggling to reach the blaze, which has been burning since around 10am between the communities of Kili and Stroumbi in the Paphos district, Kili community leader Michalis Efthymiou said on Sunday.

According to fire service spokesman Andreas Kettis, seven fire trucks from the Paphos district have been mobilised. Additional support includes two fire engines and a team of firefighters from the fire service’s Emak unit to access difficult areas, one fire engine and two earthmovers from the forestry department, and two earthmovers leased from the provincial administration.

A water tanker has also been deployed. An advanced control centre has been set up in the square of Stroumbi to coordinate the operation, Kettis said. He added that an active front has re-ignited to the west and is moving northwest, with significant forces being redirected to contain it.

Limassol district fire chief is already on site, while operations director fire chief is heading to the area.

A helicopter from the air operations unit is on its way to assist in tackling the fire. Organised volunteer groups have also been called in by the fire service to support extinguishing efforts. However, Efthymiou said more aircraft should have been available, “which unfortunately were not”.

Efthymiou said the fire had destroyed many years of cypress forest and broke out in an area so inaccessible that only someone on foot could have started it, attributing the incident to human factors.

He stressed that the homes of both communities are not at risk. He also described the outbreak of such fires in November as an unprecedented phenomenon, stating that temperatures were unusually high on Sunday.