Filenews 16 April 2024
The reinforcement with volatile firefighting means has progressed, said the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Maria Panayiotou, after the end of her meeting with the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, on Monday morning, at the Ministry of Agriculture, while the Deputy Director of the Department of Forests, Andreas Christou, said that two tenders are underway for the purchase of firefighting planes and helicopters.
"Due to weather conditions, for the first time this year the Department of Forests has started to be fully ready from April 1 instead of May 1," the Minister of Agriculture noted, adding that for the first time this year the period of employment of forest firefighters has been extended to eight months, starting from April.
"For the first time in 10 years," continued Mrs. Panayiotou, "the Forestry College starts in January 2025, which is a long-standing request of the Department of Forests to be able to staff and meet its requirements." As he said, "for the first time this year the current Government has given an order to buy 10 of our own, privately owned aircraft over a period of five years." He also referred to the decision taken at a meeting under the President of the Republic to transfer the Air Assets Unit to the National Guard.
"It is a priority for us to protect the natural environment and prevent fires, because this is the first and most important pillar to deal with them, which is why the reinforcement has proceeded to ground means as well," Panayiotou said.
Two competitions in progress for planes and helicopters
Replying to a question on the readiness of the state mechanism to deal with the fires, Andreas Christou, Deputy Director of the Department of Forests, stated that, "as far as the means of flight are concerned, one aircraft of the Department of Forests is at our disposal since the day before yesterday, which is operationally ready and is in Larnaka with the equipment and personnel needed to operate it".
Regarding additional aircraft, Christou said that two tenders are underway. Today, as he explained, the deadline for submitting bids for four planes expires and we will see if there was interest and if this interest will result in a fruitful effort.
"By the end of the month, we will also have the offers for the helicopters," the Deputy Director of the Department of Forests said. In addition, he said that the Republic of Cyprus relies on other aircraft, which belong either to the Police or the National Guard. He also noted that there is cooperation with the British Bases, which have two helicopters, as well as with neighbouring countries in case this is needed.
"Every year the aircraft enter readiness from May 1 and gradually the full force of the aircraft is being built," Christou underlined, adding that this force reaches its maximum extent by the end of May with seven aircraft. "This year, we started a little earlier, from April 1, due to the prevailing weather conditions. We are in full deployment in terms of our ground forces," he said.
CNA
