Pafos Live 18 August 2025
Yesterday afternoon, strong ground and air firefighting forces fought a long battle to extinguish a fire that broke out south of the village of Tsada, on the borders with the communities of Tala and Tremithoussa, and which, due to the very strong winds that were blowing in the area, expanded rapidly towards the villages of Tsada and Koili.
Individual residences outside the core of the two communities, a photovoltaic park and the chapel of Prophet Elias located in the "Melisovounos" area above the monastery of Agios Neophytos were threatened. The monastery has granted land next to the chapel and the community of Tala will undertake a large part of the expenditure for the creation of an observatory of the fire service for the prevention of fires. Consideration is being given to staffing it, during the winter season, and by game wardens to prevent poaching.
The fire that burned a square kilometer of dry grass, wild vegetation and a number of trees was contained late yesterday afternoon. Firefighting forces remained in the area during the night for the final extinguishing and dealing with any flare-ups. According to the representative of the fire service, Andreas Kettis, the National Plan PYRSOS and IKAROS 2 were activated, while during the fire, a crisis management team operated under the Police Director. Units of the MMAD had rushed to the area for help and better coordination, in addition to the forces of the fire brigade, the forestry department, the civil defense, the hunting service, the provincial administration and the communities of the area.
Ten houses were evacuated and the tenants were safely evacuated. Organized Volunteer Groups also contributed to the firefighting work.
