The fires services responded to 21 fires over 24 hours the service announced on Thursday and issued an urgent warning to the public of extremely heightened fire risk due to the prevailing heatwave.
In an announcement the service called on rural and other workers using any type of heat-emitting tools and machinery to abstain from their operation and to be vigilant in the use of pumps, including those for irrigation.
From 6am Wednesday until 6am Thursday, the service dealt with 36 calls of which 21 were for fires.
At 3.40pm on Wednesday a fire was reported in scrublands between the communities of Peristerona and Orounda in Nicosia. The blaze was extinguished with the use of three fire vehicles from the Peristerona and Lakatamia stations, two vehicles from the forestry department, a mobile unit from the game service, volunteers from SupportCY, and three private farm vehicles.
The blaze, brought under control shortly before 6pm, burned 5,000 square metres of wild vegetation, reeds, fruit and olive trees, and damaged an abandoned horse farm.
At 6.40pm the fire service responded with two vehicles from the Kelokedara and Paphos stations to extinguish a fire in the Kelokedara community near Zirpillos forest.
At 7.42pm a call was received for a fire in a rural area near Kourdaka, also in Paphos. Two vehicles from the Stroumbi and Paphos stations, supported by a mobile unit from the game service, brought the fire under control shortly after 10pm. The fire burned 1,000 square metres of dry grass and scrublands and its causes are being investigated.
In the early hours after 3am on Thursday, the service was called to put out a fire in two vehicles parked in an underground space of a four-storey apartment building in the Agios Antoniou area of Nicosia.
The vehicles suffered extensive damage while three other nearby vehicles were also affected, as well as AC compressors and electricity installations. Police evacuated residents without any injuries and are investigating.
Shortly after 4am, police and the fire service responded to another incident in Nicosia at an uninhabited historical residence in Strovolos. The cause of the blaze, which slightly damaged the building’s wooden ceiling, is also under investigation.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Mail
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Mail
Source
