Filenews 29 May 2023 - by Dora Christodoulou
Once again, human irresponsibility is the source of the new ecological disaster caused, this time to the most important ecosystem of the island, the Akamas peninsula.
For six whole hours the firefighting forces were fighting a real battle to prevent the worst in a landscape of unique natural beauty on Saturday afternoon and night and all this, as shown by the first examinations, by someone irresponsible who passing through the road through the dense Forest caused the fire.
The fire front grew rapidly at 3.00pm on Saturday, on the one hand due to the wooded vegetation in the area and on the other hand due to the strong winds that were blowing that day throughout Pafos. An alarm was raised in the competent services and nine aircraft available to the Republic of Akamas immediately rushed to the area of Akamas, as well as strong ground forces from all involved services and the surrounding community authorities.
The fire was successfully dealt with before entering even deeper into forest land and gorges of unique natural beauty, causing however significant damage to a small part of the Dense Forest, between Pegeia and Kathikas, as well as to another area with dense vegetation. The intense efforts of the firefighting crews paid off a house and two livestock farms in the wider area of Kathias that were in immediate danger from the fiery tongues.
In order to extinguish the largest fire we have had so far in the district of Pafos in 2023, a total of nine aircraft were worked, Plan Icarus 2 was activated, while almost all firefighting forces of the Pafos district were mobilized.
The Minister of Agriculture and the Environment was also in the area for hours, supervising closely the titanic work of controlling the fire front. Mr. Xenophontos congratulated the members of the firefighting crews for their superhuman effort to bring the fire under control in time before the disaster grew.
From the first examinations of the competent authorities, it appears that this fire is also due to the human factor, since everything indicates that it broke out from a point next to the road passing through the Dense Forest. This was confirmed by the Director of the Department of Forests, Charalambos Alexandrou, who said that the effort to extinguish the fire is a feat and achievement given that this was not easy with the intensity of the winds.
Indications point to the fire being caused by human hand as it started from the road, he said.
