Filenews 28 August 2025
The Fire Service characterizes the fire in Mountainous Limassol as a "mega" fire due to the conditions created and emphasizes that the fires in Solia and Arakapas in 2016 and 2023 were of much less intensity.
According to the Chief Fire Chief of the Fire Service, Nikos Longinos, citing the experts, a new order of things has been created regarding natural disasters, which is why he calls for a restructuring of the plans, means and protocols in the way these incidents are dealt with. "It is imperative to change the plans, so that we can deal with the new order with a new holistic system of approach to these phenomena of climate change, fires, earthquakes, floods, etc."
The fire that broke out in Malia on 23.07.25 was a particular fire in intensity, a mega fire, different from those of '16 and '21, he notes.
In his answers to questions from MPs during the August 5 session of three Committees of the Parliament, the Chief Fire Chief, who was also the coordinator of the fire, rejects the allegations of misunderstanding, but notes that he could not give instructions to the Chief of Police or the director of the Forestry Department. "It is emphasized that the Chief Fire Commander transferred/informed those responsible according to their responsibilities but did not order them and did not give them instructions to exercise their duties, which is beyond his competence. This was the meaning of the "umbrella" that the Chief Fire Chief repeatedly stated that it functioned as such during the fire in question. As a result and despite the problems, the system seemed to work effectively," he says.
As it emerges from his answers, Mr. Longinos considers it imperative to strengthen the firefighting and rescue forces in the countryside, regarding the response of the Rural Fire Stations to the communities for extinguishing fires in houses, premises, hotels, evacuations from road accidents, rescues from steep areas, dams, etc. Specifically, it recommends:
- The construction of new Rural Fire Stations for more effective coverage of the countryside.
- Extension of the opening hours of the Rural Fire Stations on a 24-hour basis (currently these Stations work from 08:00 to 19:00 daily). In order to achieve the above recommendation, the staff must be increased accordingly in both permanent and regular hourly paid personnel.
- Reinforcement of the existing fleet of fire trucks, in addition to the 17 included in the Holistic Plan (Phase B) with a fleet of fire trucks of such dimensions that they can manoeuvre and move easily even in settlements with narrow roads.
- Upgrading of both the building and the technological of the Rural Fire Stations.
- It is imperative to create new Rural Fire Stations, in order to reduce the response time to both incidents of rural fires and to life-saving incidents from road accidents, rescues from steep areas, extinguishing fires in houses, hotel units in communities, etc.
For the implementation of the above, it has been estimated that 14 new Rural Stations throughout Cyprus, 1,240 new personnel positions, as well as 73 new fire trucks are required. It is therefore understood that this presupposes significant financial costs for the Government, as well as coordination and planning.
They put a lockdown
As mentioned, today out of the 17 Rural Fire Stations, only three are staffed on a 24-hour basis, the one in Evrychou, Moniatis and Stroumbiou). The 24-hour staffing of all Rural Fire Stations is considered imperative, since after 19:00 daily the 14 Rural Fire Stations cease their operation and in case of an incident in their area of responsibility, the response is made by the urban fire stations of the competent province, resulting in a serious increase in the response time of the firefighting teams and at the same time reducing the dynamics of the Urban Fire Stations.
