Limassol begins to count cost of wildfire
Villages in the Limassol district on Thursday began to count the cost of the wildfire which tore through the district on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Vouni village mukhtar Mattheos Protopapas told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the number of houses which have burnt down in his village “could reach 100”, while one of the residents of his village is being treated for serious burns at the Nicosia general hospital.
He said that houses had burnt down “even in the centre of the village”, and that the village’s chapel of Ayios Ioannis tou Rossou also burnt down.
In addition, he complained that when his village was “engulfed in flames” on Wednesday afternoon, “we did not receive any help from the fire brigade from the beginning”.
He added that only village councillors remain in the village “after spending a sleepless night here”, with the aim of “recording the damage and covering immediate needs”.
Alassa village mukhtar Xenia Constantinou, meanwhile, told CNA that one house in the village, as well as animal pens and orchards with fruit trees were also damaged as a result of the fire.
She added that her village was successfully evacuated on Wednesday night, and that many residents were beginning to return on Thursday.
However, she said, “the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and the sick, are instead being accommodated in homes belonging to their families in Limassol”.
She added that meanwhile, village councillors have been “visiting houses in the village where people remain to meet their water and food needs, as there is no electricity”.
In the city itself, district governor Yiannis Tsouloftas said that “from the first moment that the extent of the disaster was realised”, his district government had begun to organise a response.
“We organised four teams in total, with two fire engines with water tanks and water jets and two more vehicles with personnel and equipment,” he said, before adding that he has freed up equipment to village councils to help them repair water pipelines which have been damaged by the fire.
“We are in the process of helping the villages to replace them and where there is no electricity, we have sent generators so that the pumping of water can begin, so as to operate a supply of water to the villages,” he said.
He added that his district government has contacted hotels in the district, and that as a result, “we have ensured the possibility of temporary housing for people who have lost their homes or who temporarily cannot return to their homes”.
Hotel managers, he said, have been put into contact with the civil defence, which has taken over the coordination of the effort.