Filenews 17 May 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
Pilots and firefighting planes will probably come from faraway Chile next month on behalf of the Department of Forests, while the procedures for the two firefighting helicopters are still delayed. Since last Friday, two new Airtractor firefighting planes have already been in Cyprus, which have come from Spain within the framework of a government agreement. The planes will be based in Akrotiri and yesterday they flew to Paphos airport for the purpose of training the crews and preparation for the firefighting of the summer.
Regarding the two additional firefighting planes that the Department of Forests wishes to come this year, according to its director Charalambos Alexandrou, it is expected that by the end of this week, issues concerning the pilots of the two airtractors will be clarified so that there are no issues about their flight times. As he explained to "F", the company behind the two planes is Spanish and currently through another company, the aircraft operate in fires in Chile. Once the summer season finishes there, they will come to Cyprus as they did last year to operate here. As the director of the Department pointed out, now all the procedures are being done to bring the two flying means by mid-June.
As far as the two firefighting helicopters are concerned, the procedures are not at such an advanced stage. The Department of Forests with permission of the Public Procurement Authority has invited all companies that showed interest and took the tender documents (about 20) to renew their interest with small derogations. Those who do so, including the one company that submitted a bid but were out of specification, will be negotiated directly. All procedures are carried out, as Mr. Alexandrou pointed out, with the approval of the competent Authority so that they are legal. At the moment we have six flying means and when the two rental aircraft come they will become eight.
Meanwhile, yesterday began the fire safety week organized by CNP Insurance for the 21st year, with the central message "So as not to let our dreams turn to ashes". In a speech, the Minister of Justice, Stefi Draki, said that after last year's devastating fire in the mountainous communities of the districts of Larnaca and Limassol, it was decided to introduce a holistic surveillance system for areas (...) Our goal is for the first phase, which concerns the purchase of equipment and services with a total cost of more than € 4,000,000, to be at the disposal of the Fire Brigade, before the period of high risk".
In a speech, the chief of the Fire Brigade, Polis Hadjivassiliou, said that the creation of the new Coordination Center of the Service is being promoted for approval by the Ministry.
