Limassol fires: an effective Public Warning System is essential

We are not even close to readiness for firefighting. My husband and I live in Monagri, one of the villages affected by the recent wildfire.

At 7.30pm on July 23, we decided to leave our house, which is outside the village to stay the night with family on the coast.

Some 500 metres outside the village on the turning to the shooting range we saw a couple of police talking to some civilians, one of them on the phone. We continued on the road towards Alassa, where we met some oncoming cars driving towards Monagri, all of them flashing their lights. We instantly made the decision to turn back and drive upwards towards Pera Pedi, where my sister lives.

In the couple of minutes it took us to do a U-turn, the air was full by crackling bits of burning matter hitting the car with force and the vegetation on both sides of the road was on fire. We reached the police checkpoint which we had seen on our way down and informed them that the road to Alassa was unsafe.

I can’t help wondering about the unfortunate couple that died on the same road, whether they would have avoided their tragic end if the police had stopped them on their way south.

Lack of information was prevalent throughout our two-day ordeal. The village mukhtar and local council did their best, but they can only do so much. Our main source of information throughout was our neighbour who is also a member of the village council. We’ll always be grateful for his and his family’s help, but what if we didn’t have him?

On the morning of the 24th we returned home after spending the night with family on the coast to find that the air was thick with smoke and everything was covered in ash. There was no electricity, and no one was around.

The worst of it was that the phones were not working and, after repeated tries, when I got through to the Primetel helpline, the line dropped and nobody called back. Luckily, my UK phone worked and eventually, I heard from my sister, on the UK phone that there was a new fire and Pera Pedi was being evacuated again. That’s when we made the decision to leave again.

If I can draw some conclusions from my experience is that the police and other organisations should be deployed more effectively. They must have up to date information. With so many planes in the air, they just need boots on the ground. Effective Public Warning Systems are paramount. We can hardly hear the church bells where we are!

Panayiota Price, Monagri