Filenews 7 August 2025 - by Angelos Nicolaou
After every devastating fire that hits Cyprus, the question persistently returns to the public debate: Who is responsible? And above all, who bears the operational command when the flames threaten lives, property and the natural environment?
The recent tragedy in the Limassol district has dramatically brought to the surface the long-standing weaknesses of the existing fire management system. Beyond the search for responsibility, what is missing is clarity: Who decides, who coordinates and who is accountable.
According to current legislation, responsibility for fires in the countryside is fragmented into many state bodies, which often leads to confusion, not only in the public, but also in the field of business itself.
The Department of Forestry (Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment) is responsible for fires within state forests and within a radius of 2 kilometers around them. It manages a system that includes prevention, preparedness and immediate intervention in its field of responsibility.
The Fire Service (Ministry of Justice and Public Order) assumes operational responsibility in all other areas, i.e. in rural, semi-urban and urban areas.
Local Authorities and District Administrations (Ministry of the Interior) have a role to play in preventing and implementing cleanup, access and preparedness measures, mainly within communities.
The Aerial Vehicle Unit of the Department of Forestry is now under the Ministry of Defense and is activated at the request of the head of the incident through the National Guard.
Furthermore, in each fire incident, there is a single leader, as defined by the legislation and the special operational plans:
>> For forest fires (within state forests – 2km zone): Director of the Department of Forests.
>> On the fires throughout the rest of the countryside and urban areas: Chief Fire Officer of the Fire Service.
This head has full operational control and coordination of all the services involved. The responsibility for the coordination of the operations and therefore the coordination of all the services involved in them, lies exclusively with the head/person in charge of the episode. This is also ensured by the relevant operational plans, which clearly record the role of each Service.
For large fires that develop into a crisis, which occur in the area of responsibility of the Department of Forests (forest fires), the Special National Plan "Hephaestus" is applied and for fires in the area of responsibility of the Fire Service (rural fires) the Special National Plan "Torch" is applied. The "Ikaros" Plan, which concerns the safe and effective management of firefighting aircraft, is activated, if necessary, by the person responsible for the incident.
The entire planning and coordination is supported and supervised by the six-member Ministerial Crisis Management Team, which is chaired by the Minister, whose Service is responsible for the operational coordination of the incident.
The study that changes the data but in... five years
The lack of a unified and fully coordinated fire management system in the countryside is nothing new. It has been highlighted for years, especially after the tragedy in Arakapas in 2021.
As a result, in 2025 a special study on the management of fires in the countryside was completed, by a recognized expert, with the aim of creating a unified and integrated system for prevention, preparedness and suppression.
The study provides for a unified and integrated Agroforestry and Forest Fire Management System, similar to the one applied by the Department of Forests for state forests:
● Operational readiness with a target of 10 minutes of intervention.
● Clear distribution of roles in each Service involved.
● Needs for human resources, equipment, infrastructure.
● Legislative changes and administrative reforms.
The study was presented to the Ministers of Agriculture and Justice, and other co-competent bodies in March 2025, with the Minister of Agriculture giving instructions to the Department of Forests to draw up a roadmap for the implementation of the study.
However, due to the complexity of the implementation, the full implementation of the reform is expected within five years. No immediate interim interventions are foreseen, as any hasty implementation, according to the study, could cause serious problems in operational operations.
Fuel management, the creation of fire zones and the protection of communities through a strategic removal of trachea pine are key prevention tools. However, their implementation remains insufficient in many rural areas.
At the same time, the Vegetation Management study includes actions for 245 communities, but the responsibilities for implementation are divided, with the Department of Forests covering only state forests and Local Authorities having responsibility for communities.
The Department of Forestry does not want pine trees in the communities
In the face of the growing threat of forest fires and their consequences for the natural environment, communities and human life, the Department of Forestry is proposing a new, comprehensive set of measures to improve the management of rural fires. The recommendations, as recorded in the recent report on the fire in mountainous Limassol submitted to the President of the Republic, constitute a strategic intervention aimed at drastically strengthening prevention and operational preparedness.
The central proposal of the report is the utilization of the special study on fires in the countryside, which proposes a new business model, to be implemented gradually over a period of five years. The Department of Forestry warns that any hasty implementation of the reform may undermine the effectiveness of the services involved.
The study recommends the creation of a protection ring around each community, with measures such as: Forestry interventions (thinning, pruning), creation of fire protection zones and green crops, management of riparian vegetation, controlled burning and grazing.
Special reference is made to the removal of the rough pine (Pinus brutia) from the cores of communities and its replacement with less flammable, hardy broadleaf species such as Cypriot oak and plane tree. The Department of Forestry considers it necessary to remove the rough pine (Pinus brutia) from the nuclei of the villages, from the points where it is adjacent to houses and other infrastructure, as well as from areas around the communities. This species, due to its high resin content and flammable hair, acts as a fire accelerator and poses a serious danger to communities. As a management strategy, the Department of Forestry recommends the replacement of the trachea pine with more resilient and less flammable broadleaf species, such as Cyprus oak, plane trees and other native broadleaves, which offer greater fire resistance and contribute to biodiversity. At the same time, it emphasizes the need for the return of grazing and traditional agricultural crops to the areas around the villages, which act as natural embankments against the spread of fires, but also as a means of reviving the cultural and rural landscape of the countryside.
