A 40-YEAR-old refugee almost lost his Nicosia home for the second time yesterday after a roaring blaze broke out in his back yard.
Christakis Vourkos, originally from Kyrenia, was at the bank when his wife called him around midday and told him their house was on fire.
“I got the phone call and rushed home,” Vourkos told the Cyprus Mail as he watched the firemen battle to put out the flames.
In the end it was not his house that was ablaze, but the property’s small outbuilding in the back, which had been uninhabited since its former elderly tenants moved out three years ago.
His Bulgarian wife, Ralitza, said she had been alerted to the fire by a group of children outside. Their own two children were at school.
“I was on the other side of the house and didn’t notice anything until I heard the children shouting fire. When I looked outside I saw it and called for help. Thank God I was home otherwise the whole house would have gone up in flames… It was only the outbuildings and they haven’t been used in years.”
The property located near the state museum at the corner of Omirou Street and Byron Avenue has been rented by Vourkos family from the guardian of Turkish Cypriot properties since 1974. The house is owned by the Turkish Cypriot religious foundation EVKAF.
The couple, looking bewildered and disorientated, said they believed the fire had most likely started from a cigarette butt.
Ralitza, who kept coughing due to the thick smoke, added she had her work cut out to clean up the home, which was steadily filling up with ash.
The billowing smoke, visible from miles away, attracted curious onlookers and stalled traffic as drivers stopped to see what was going on, causing major traffic jams at the busy junction.
Fire officials have ruled out arson.
Fire department lieutenant Leonidas Leonidou said the exact cause of the blaze would never be known due to the extensive damage caused by the fire.
“We located the source of the fire but cannot say for sure how it started, due to the vast destruction caused by the old couches and flammable materials located in the space,” he said.
The official said the small building could have been accessed by passers-by and that Vourkos’ wife had complained of youngsters often using the space to have a smoke.
“We can’t rule out that it was set by a cigarette, we’ll just never know,” he said.
Three fire engines were used to put out the fire which was brought under control after 15 minutes and put out completely within the hour.
