Pafos Live 25 July 2023
With the first light of day, the flying means of democracy and ground forces began to operate in the area of the fire in the forest of Pafos to extinguish the last fires burning in the burned ground.
The all-night battle with the flames in the forest of Pafos had a positive ending. The fire in the Elitzies area north of the cedar valley and within walking distance of the holy monastery of Panagia Kykkos was contained within hours before reaching threatening proportions since it was located in the heart of Cyprus' most compact forest area, 60,000 hectares, according to the director of the forestry department. The fire broke out shortly before seven o'clock last night and the republic's aircraft had time to operate for a very short time before daylight.
Almost immediately, the forest department mobilized almost all its forces at the stations in the area. More than a hundred forest firefighters rushed to the scene with dozens of vehicles, while in addition to the dozers available to the department, private machinery was mobilized to widen and create firebreaks. The fire was brought under control shortly after ten o'clock last night. The strong ground firefighting forces secured the perimeter of the fire that was burning in a very inaccessible area with very dense pine forest and remained on alert all night.
The director of the forestry department, Charalambos Alexandrou, and the bishop of Kykkos and Tylliria Nikiforos rushed to the site of the fire last night.
Charalambos Alexandrou is convinced that the fire was caused by EAC overhead cables connecting the forest stations of Kampos and Stavros of Psokas. It is inconceivable, he said, that lines with bare cables pass through forest areas, noting that for this line he has made many representations and demarches for its dismantling, for years without result.
