ONE OF the worst forest fires in decades wreaked havoc on the island yesterday, razing holiday homes and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from scenic mountains resorts.
The blaze broke out shortly after noon in the Saittas forest north of Limassol. Fanned by strong winds and a scorching heat wave, the flames spread rapidly and by early afternoon had laid waste to a huge area on the pine-covered Troodos mountain range.
The conflagration sent thick plumes of smoke into the sky visible from Nicosia, about 50km away.
According to the Forestry Department, the blaze erupted after an aerial high-voltage power cable short-circuited, the sparks igniting nearby trees.
“It’s possibly the worst fire ever,” a fire department spokesman said.
The village of Kato Amiandos was evacuated. Some residents of Pelendri and neighbouring villages sought safety elsewhere, others stayed on to help firefighters in the searing heat.
Around 200 persons were put up at the Rodon hotel in Agros village.
TV footage showed people using their garden hoses to put out flames in their back yards.
A few dwellings in Pelendri, Saittas and Kato Amiandos were burnt to the ground, as fire fighting units scrambled amid growing confusion to contain a number of fronts.
“My home… it’s all gone,” a middle-aged woman in tears told newsmen.
A mediaeval chapel declared a world heritage site by the UN cultural organisation UNESCO was not in imminent danger, latest reports said.
The Fire Department deployed 70 men and 20 vehicles, assisted by the Civil Defence, the police and the Game Service. The National Guard pitched in with 120 conscripts, while a further 120 were put on standby.
In the skies above, firefighting helicopters from the Forestry Department, the British military bases and UN contingents in Cyprus made run after run.
“We want whoever can use a shovel up here,” local deputy Yiannakis Thoma told CyBC.
Local residents complained of bad calls, saying that initially helicopters did not stock up on water from a nearby dam at Saittas, choosing instead to visit another dam and wasting valuable time.
As flames loomed dangerously close to a Church-run camping site, children were whisked away to safety. No one was hurt.
“This is a terrible situation,” said Agriculture Minister Fotis Fotiou, one of the first officials to arrive at the scene.
He said the government had asked for help from other countries, and was in contact with the EU.
It was confirmed that two fire fighting planes were dispatched from Italy, one arriving shortly before dusk yesterday, the second expected today.
A helicopter from Israel, accompanied by a Boeing jet carrying foam, was due to arrive this morning.
By 7pm, some of the most scenic areas on the island had been reduced to ashes, with authorities battling to restrain the flames as far as possible before sunset.
Choppers called it a day at nightfall, but will resume operations at daybreak today.
On the ground, fire fighters remained on high alert in case of a resurgence of flames during the night. The difficult terrain frustrated efforts to create a fire moat.
By 9.30pm, two of the four fronts had been contained, thanks to abating winds and a drop in temperature.
“We hope to avoid a resurgence, but we’ll be there until the morning,” Giorgos Vouvakos of the Fire Department told the Mail.
“A lot of those guys are exhausted… they’ve been out there from the start, and we need to relieve them first thing in the morning,” he said.
Later in the day, President Tassos Papadopoulos visited a crisis co-ordination centre set up at Saittas. He was joined there by ministers, senior government officials and party leaders.
Justice Minister Sophocles Sophocleous had to cut short a visit to Armenia to return to the island.
Costas Gavrielides, spokesman for the Electricity Authority of Cyprus, did not rule out that power cables were at fault, but said it was too early too say.
“The speed with which the announcement was made [by the Forestry Department], coming within minutes of the breakout, is startling. How can they jump to a conclusion so quickly?”
To his knowledge, he added, overhanging power wires were not in contact with trees in the area.
At around 11pm last night, there was a minor resurgence in one of the two open fronts, raising concerns that the flames might home in on the heart of the Troodos forest.
Local residents kept vigil throughout the night, as villagers from non-threatened areas arrived with water canisters to assist in any way they could.
A FIRE breaking out in the Delikipos-Lefkara area yesterday burnt some 200 hectares of land.
The blaze charred pine trees and undergrowth, as soldiers from nearby camps joined in the firefighting effort.
The flames were noticed around 6pm, but due to the swift intervention of the Fire Department and the National Guard were contained by nightfall.
