Fireman injured as blaze threatens block

AN INTENSE FIRE that broke out after midnight on Sunday at a Limassol warehouse of old furniture put an entire block into danger and led to the injury of a member of the fire department.

At 40 minutes past midnight, the Limassol Fire Station alarm went off. A total of 40 firemen and 12 fire trucks descended on the old furniture store Erma Auction House in Gladstonos Street to extinguish the fire.

The fire, which had broken out in the warehouse basement, caused extensive damages to the furniture and to a neighbouring showroom. The fire also spread to other buildings in the area.

The Fire Department extinguished the fire by 3.30 am. The total cost of the damage has not yet been determined.

In the large-scale effort to put out the fire, a Fire Department member dislocated his right scapula and was taken to the Limassol General Hospital for treatment.

Fire Department Spokesman Lisa Kemibji told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that a fire had broken out in the same warehouse on Friday night.

“The Friday was not a major one, but we determined it was an act of arson,” Kemibji said, adding that the fire department had not yet been able to determine the cause of yesterday’s fire. “Unfortunately, because the fire was so destructive this time, we couldn’t determine whether or not it was an arson.”

The Limassol Fire Department is investigating the causes of the fire in conjunction with the police.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.