Filenews 26 December 2025
The tender process for the purchase of three firefighting aircraft is underway, one of which will be financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Andreas Grigoriou, told KYPE on Friday.
As he stated in response to a relevant question from KYPE, the tender is part of the wider goal of acquiring a total of 10 privately owned firefighting aircraft within the next five years, while an option is also provided for the purchase of five more aircraft.
Regarding this year's fire season, Mr. Grigoriou noted that 13 primary firefighting aircraft were operationally available, including 9 aircraft and 4 helicopters. At the same time, helicopters of the National Guard and the Police are in operational readiness as secondary means.
Referring to the field of technology, the Director General of the Ministry stressed that "there is integrated planning to strengthen the forest area surveillance system, early detection of fires and image transfer to Operations Centers".
According to him, Phase A of the design has already been completed and includes, among other things, the development of a basic wireless data transmission network, the pilot installation of four fire detection sensors in forest areas and the supply of five drone systems.
As he added, Phase B of the Program includes actions concerning the Department of Forests, the Fire Service and the National Guard.
He stated that for the Department of Forests, among other things, the installation of 15 additional electro-optical systems for automatic fire detection, the development of specialized software for risk prediction and simulation of fire development, the supply of two trailed observation balloons, the purchase of three mobile operations centers, as well as the upgrade of the existing drone systems and the General Operations Center of the Department of Forests and the supply of information technology and related network equipment, for the staff and means to be acquired.
In addition, Mr. Grigoriou stated that with the beginning of this year's high-risk fire period, the implementation and use of the TETRA telecommunications system has been introduced to the Department of Forests.
"This system will significantly improve intercommunication both between the staff of the Department of Forests, but mainly between the Services involved in fire management," he said.
He then referred to the significant strengthening of the ground firefighting means of the Department of Forests that has been achieved in recent years. From 2023 until today, through the Recovery and Resilience Plan, 25 special-purpose and all-terrain fire trucks with the ability to transport 2 tons of water, 8 crawler land pushers, 4 wheeled excavators, 4 loaders/platforms for transporting earth pushers, six tanker trucks with the capacity to transport 12 tons of water, 6 agricultural tractors and 75 personnel transport vehicles were purchased.
He also added, within 2026, the Department of Forests will receive 17 large fire trucks with the capacity to transport six tons of water, 12 of them through the Recovery and Resilience Plan and five with national funding. In addition, 3 agricultural tractors have been purchased from National Resources, while 2 trucks/platforms for transporting earth pushers and 10 rapid intervention fire trucks were recently received, he added.
"Unfortunately, the climate change observed in every corner of the planet also affects Cyprus, with temperatures recording an increasing trend and rainfall falling," noted Mr. Grigoriou.
Undoubtedly, he continued, "these conditions also have an effect on fires, causing changes in their frequency and intensity, increasing the occurrence of large-scale fire incidents with particularly catastrophic effects." The weather conditions, combined with the abandonment of the countryside and land use changes, intensify the trend of recent years for more difficult fire seasons, he said in conclusion.
CNA
