Filenews 25 July 2022
Paphos and specifically its airport will be the central pillar of the aerial firefighting in Cyprus this summer. After the two Air Tractor aircraft leased by the Department of Forests, which have been stationed since the beginning of July at the Paphos air base, from tomorrow the airport of the province will host both new aircraft that will enhance the firefighting work: These are two Kamov 32 helicopters, which are leased by a Greek company, under a contract signed late last week.
The two helicopters will arrive in Paphos tomorrow and will be stationed in the special areas with the constructed helipads in which in previous years the same type of helicopters that the Republic leased from Russia were parked. The two Greek-owned Kamov are expected to carry out their final tests for their flight proficiency in order to activate the contract on Thursday and if all goes well, from that day they will be made available to the Cypriot authorities.
The agreement is two years duration with the right of renewal by the Republic of Cyprus for another two years.
In the meantime, there is an immediate need to recruit 16 additional forest firefighters, while the filling of 10 organic positions of forest officers is also pending, which will have to be filled immediately. This was emphasized during a meeting that the Director of the Department of Forests, Charalambos Alexandrou, had with the Member of Parliament for Paphos of DIKO, Chrysanthos Savvides.
During the discussion, it was pointed out that this year the scorched earth is 50% less than in other years.
