Christodoulides asks US govt help to evaluate fire response

President Nikos Christodoulides has asked the American government for help to investigate and evaluate the management of the recent fires, he said on Monday evening.

At the same time, he released reports written by four government departments about their role in reacting to the fire.

The US government has agreed and will send a ten-member team of experts specialising in investigating similar disasters to Cyprus.

“After the conclusion of their mission they will submit to me an appropriate report,” the president said.

Regarding the fact-finding reports compiled by the four government departments – the fire service, the forestry department, the police and civil defence – Christodoulides said the full texts were being made public, as promised, in the interests “of transparency and accountability”.

The forestry department report concluded that “under the circumstances, it accomplished its mission.”

Chronicling the events of July 23-24, the department said it had agreed with the fire chief that it would handle the ‘eastern front’ of the fires – covering the villages of Arsos, Omodos, Kilani, Kouka, Sylikos, Ayia Georgia Sylikou, Doros, Monagri and Alassa.

The forestry department was also put in charge of preventing the spread of the blaze towards the Troodos forest.

Later, the department was asked to deal with the ‘northern front’ of the fire, mainly by deploying excavators to create fire barriers.

It noted that the system in rural areas – outside the department’s area of responsibility – “presents weaknesses”. These include “major shortcomings” in implementing fire prevention measures, chiefly in relation to vegetation management.

In particular, it advised that the highly flammable pine trees be removed from areas inside and around rural communities, and be replaced with more resilient and less flammable species such as oaks.

Pine trees often act as an accelerant and pose “serious dangers” to communities.

The department also called for more frequent thinning of vegetation to reduce flammable biomass.

There was also “room for improvement” regarding the deployment of volunteers from rural communities, who can act as first responders.

And “the management of unsolicited, untrained volunteers in incidents that develop into a crisis, presents significant weaknesses, to the extent that they may lead to catastrophic consequences…”

In its own dossier, Civil Defence said that at around 2pm on July 23 one of its volunteers spotted smoke rising near the village of Malia – the location where the fire started. The volunteer immediately alerted authorities. The department’s local section leader asked for corroboration, and drones were sent up that confirmed the presence of a fire.

Around 2.10pm, the fire department informed Civil Defence of the blaze in Malia, and requested assistance to evacuate the community.

About an hour later, Civil Defence received a tip about a family of 13 in the village of Vasa Kilamiou who were refusing to leave their home. An official went to the scene and helped the family evacuate.

Due to the intensity and rapidity of the spread of the fires in various communities, Civil Defence asked the military for assistance with evacuations.

Civil Defence said the limited number of available personnel and volunteers for large-scale events, such as the recent wildfires, “makes it objectively impossible to have a physical presence at all points where evacuations are being carried out…”

Despite this, it added, “the department mobilised its capabilities to the fullest extent, activating all due procedures and making use of all available means to provide guidance and support to members of the public”.

The fire department too said it had taken all necessary steps. On the evening of July 22 – the day before the fires broke out – the fire chief instructed additional aerial patrols to take place on July 23, due to warnings of high temperatures. He later learned that the two Jordanian air tractors would not be available on the day because of a change in personnel.

On July 23 the fire department received a call from a private citizen about shrubs having caught on fire on the road linking Malia and Arsos. The message was relayed to the fire station at the village of Pachna.

“The spread of the wildfires could not be predicted because of changing strong winds, the micro-climate created by the fire in combination with the terrain, while the vegetation in each area created a momentum where the fire moved in different directions,” its report said.

Help was requested from the British bases, which responded with three fire engines and one firefighting aircraft.

“Taking into account the aforementioned, despite the adverse situation we had to deal with, the best possible use was made of airborne as well as ground-based firefighting means…” the fire department said.

It also pointed out that it is operationally responsible for 79 per cent of the land under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus. This includes responsibility over rural areas, assigned to the fire department by a cabinet decision back in 1994.

Regarding the deaths of two people, an elderly couple, the police, in its report, said that at 9pm on July 23 a member of Civil Defence spotted a car that was ablaze while driving toward the village of Monagri.

The Civil Defence person called the police, which dispatched CID officers to investigate. The vehicle on fire had license plates HYK 965, registered in the name of Maro Philippides. Two bodies were found inside the car, later identified via DNA analysis to be Maro, aged 77, and her husband Demetris, 81.