‘Crooks’ are still trying to deliberately start fires, fire brigade chief says

Some members of the public have still been seen trying to start new fires as recently as “the last few hours”, fire brigade chief Nikos Longinos said on Saturday morning.

“There are crooks out there who are trying, even after this fire, to commit malicious acts,” he said, referring to the fire which broke out in the Limassol district on Wednesday and killed two.

Asked about the situation in the Limassol district, he said there is currently “no active front” and that the fire is “in a state of decline”, with firefighters dealing with “small resurgences”.

As such, he said, firefighting forces are manning the fire’s perimeter, and aircraft are “providing information” from above with the aim of spotting further flare-ups before they develop.

He added that the ground force is “just as strong” as it was earlier in the week when the fire was at its peak, and that other departments are also helping.

“The area is huge. It is close to 120 kilometres, so special attention is needed, taking into account the prevailing weather conditions,” he said, adding that while winds are not expected to be particularly strong on Saturday, they are still potentially strong enough to “cause anything”.

“There are high temperatures. In the morning, there was humidity and that was an issue because they could not fly the aircraft, especially in the coastal areas. Fortunately, at some point, the conditions allowed it, the aircraft are now in the sky, and they are monitoring the area,” he said.

Then asked if flare-ups are close to any particular villages, he said the village of Omodos is “close to the perimeter” of the fire, and that industrial areas near Limassol are also located near the fire’s edge.

On the potential cause of the fire, he said all the information he had available to him has been handed over to the police, who have “taken charge of the matter”.

“All actions now belong to the police,” he added, before urging the public to not engage in behaviours which may cause fires.

“Everyone must be careful. They must give us information immediately. Any activities by people who use power tools or anything else should stop, and people must keep in mind that unfortunately, there are crooks out there who are trying, even after this fire, to commit malicious acts,” he said.

“This is just the information we have, and it is not just information. Fires are starting in other areas of Cyprus and an immediate response is being coordinated to try to contain these fires that these crooks are starting.”

Longinos had asserted as early as Thursday morning that the Limassol district fire was arson, saying at the time that eyewitnesses have informed the authorities that the fire was started deliberately at two separate points, 100 metres apart, near the village of Malia.

Later on Thursday, police spokeswoman Kyriaki Lambrianidou said the police will “duly investigate the causes of the fire” and reports that it was started intentionally.

Yiannakis Yiannakis, the mukhtar of nearby village Arsos, told the Cyprus News Agency that he also believed the fire had been started intentionally, pointing out that other fires had broken out near Malia in recent days, but that those fires had been “dealt with by the means available to village councils”.