Garden waste site on fire in Coral Bay

By Bejay Browne
FIRE services in Paphos are battling to extinguish a fire at a garden waste site close to Coral Bay.
A spokesman for the fire department said late Tuesday that the fire was still burning although it had been brought under control. Fire crews were on site since early Monday afternoon.
The fire official said investigations to discover if the fire was set deliberately would be carried out after the fire has burnt out.
The blaze was reported to the chief engineer early on Monday afternoon.
The fire services had bulldozed fire breaks to try to contain the blaze.
Smoke from the ongoing fire had caused numerous complaints from the nearby Crown Resorts hotel as the wind was blowing in that direction.
The enormous waste site was created as a temporary measure by the previous council to be used for a year, that was more than five years ago.
“There are massive amounts of garden waste in Peyia, as there are many properties with large gardens, and in Europe, this waste is not supposed to go into landfill sites. Illegal dumping got out of control not only causing flooding but was a fire hazard and was blocking ravines,” local councillor Linda Leblanc said.
In the past, the tip has brought complaints both from both owners and tourists as it’s an unsightly mountain of waste and stands at least 15 meters high on a huge plot, she said.

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.