Monday's fire was 100 per cent preventable

At the start of every summer a lot of reassuring words are spoken about Cyprus’ preparedness for fire season. More staff, more equipment, more technology and more millions are poured into resources, exercises and public awareness campaigns.

Thankfully, so far this year temperatures have not been totally insufferable for July and the fires up until Monday have been well contained, but there are still many weeks before the danger subsides.

Despite all the nice words, Monday’s fire emanating from the disposal of ordinance at the Kalo Chorio firing range is inexcusable. It was 100 per cent preventable.

This isn’t an indictment of the fire service, the forestry department or anyone involved in firefighting and rescue, although there also seem to be questions over the failure of the alert system. Issues always arise when it comes to response and coordination in the wake of fires.

But as far as establishing who the culprits were for Monday’s fire it seems pretty clear.

Defence Minister Vassilis Palmas was very publicly angry with his National Guard underlings who decided to dispose of ordinance in July given that there is a standing order explicitly prohibiting certain activities at Kalo Chorio during the summer.

Bowing to pressure in 2010, the military agreed to suspend the use of “heavy weapons” during July and August. It is not clear whether destruction of ordinance was covered under the ban, but if not, why not?

Since 2010, the Kalo Chorio range sparked fires in May 2017, August 2018, September 2020, September 2022 and October 2025 due to various activities and that’s not an exhaustive list. Were all these related to the use of “heavy artillery” or were other activities responsible?

The range has for decades been a bone of contention for residents in the surrounding villages, not just due to fires, but from debris falling on them.

Someone in the National Guard gave the order for the destruction of ordinance on Monday. How senior was this person? Whoever it was can only be described as a complete idiot.

The problems caused by the range have been widely known for decades by the public, never mind inside the army. Not only is there a history of fires at Kalo Chorio, common sense dictates that the possibility of sparking a blaze was obvious, especially in July but apparently common sense is not in great supply in the army.

The public are warned all summer long of the penalties for carelessly causing a fire accompanied by a list of prohibited activities that present a danger to rural areas. Who inside the National Guard did not get the memo and will that person who endangered, not only residents of the area but also the soldiers under his command, be suitably punished – and by that we mean dismissed at the very least?

The Kalo Chorio fire should not have happened but it seems no amount of money and resources poured into fire prevention can prepare a country to deal with human stupidity.