Police baffled by volunteer fire hero caught setting a blaze

POLICE were left baffled yesterday when they discovered that a 30-year-old man they arrested for allegedly trying to start a forest fire in Paphos, had previously received two awards for volunteer firefighting.

The man was arrested on Thursday night after being caught trying to start a blaze near the Anarita basic training camp in Paphos.

Police were stunned when they realised the arsonist had been awarded twice by his local council – in 2008 and 2009 – for his contribution to extinguishing fires that had broken out in and around his community.

The 30-year-old waiter was caught red-handed by a National Guard officer, who serves at the Evagoras Palikarides camp in Anarita, as he was attempting to ignite a fire in five different spots of a small forest of acacias, northeast of the camp.

The man who had two hunting dogs with him, claimed he had been trying to burn the wild growth so that the humidity and first rainfalls would help new weeds grow.

This, he claimed would help his dogs to spot prey easier.

In the past ten days, various fires have ignited around Paphos, man of which are believed to have been set on purpose. They mainly burned trees and wild growth, but also rare trees. A police spokesman yesterday confirmed the 30-year-old was not suspected of being connected to those outbreaks.

The 30-year-old, who insisted he had never done anything similar before, was charged and released and will appear in court at a later date.

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.