By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press
SOUNI, Cyprus (AP) — Aircraft from Jordan, Israel and Spain were on their way Thursday to help battle a huge wildfire in Cyprus that has claimed the lives of two people. Police were investigating reports that arsonists were to blame.
The flames have scorched more than 120 square kilometers (46 square miles) of forested hillsides in what’s believed to be one of the worst such blazes in recent memory.
The fire, which appeared to have died down overnight, has again flared up along several fronts and that more than 250 firefighters, 75 engines and 14 aircraft were working to contain the flames, government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said.
The blaze remains active along six separate fronts, fire department spokesman Andreas Kettis said.
A combination of very strong winds, high temperatures and very arid conditions after three winters of minimal rainfall created a kind of perfect storm at the wildfire’s peak late Wednesday, Letymbiotis said. The situation overwhelmed fire crews, which struggled to contain the flames in difficult, hilly terrain.
He offered a government pledge for financial assistance to fire-hit communities and people who lost their livelihood, and to property owners to rebuild their gutted homes.
Antonis Christou, a 67-year-old resident of the village of Kantou, described how the entire hillside and valley below his home was aflame and how the timely arrival of two fire engines prevented the flames from sweeping through his village.
Christou said that he got through a police cordon to reach his home, saying that he “cried, I cried, honestly I cried because the world was on fire.”
“Two fire engines came and if they hadn’t come, the fire would have swept through the village,” he said, describing scenes of “pandemonium” at a village dog shelter where owners rushed to evacuate the animals, as well as bumper-to-bumper traffic on roads leading away from the fire fronts.
Letymbiotis said that four fixed-wing aircraft have arrived from Jordan, while two helicopters from Egypt, two planes from Israel and another pair from Spain would be arriving to assist in firefighting efforts “as soon as possible.” Greece is also dispatching 26 elite firefighters to Cyprus, Kettis said.
Police were investigating reports that the fire, which began around noon Wednesday, was the work of arsonists, according to the government spokesman.
Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi, who is visiting Cyprus, said that two “specialized helicopters” would be arriving in Cyprus later Thursday to illustrate his country as a “strategic, reliable partner” to Cyprus.
“We’re in this together,” Badawi told reporters at a fire coordination center on the outskirts of the southern coastal town of Limassol.
Police were still trying to identify the charred remains of two people who were found inside a burned-out car on the shoulder of the main Monagri-Alassa road. Police initially reported the discovery of one body late Wednesday, but a more thorough search of the gutted vehicle found a second body.
Letymbiotis deflected criticism by some area residents, saying that fire crews had responded quickly to calls for help and that all firefighting protocols had been activated from the first instance.
Meanwhile, the Cyprus Red Cross and other organizations were offering help to dozens of people who lost homes. Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis said that 100 people who were evacuated from fire-hit communities were being hosted in temporary shelters.
Cyprus’ Interior Ministry urged the evacuation of all camping grounds on the Troodos mountain range as a precaution. The fire had forced on Wednesday the evacuation of at least 14 the villages as media reports showed gutted homes smoldering. In the village of Lofou, at least 20 homes were destroyed as fires threated a group of stranded evacuees whose police buses had to turn back as the fire front shifted to block their exit.
Police continued to block road access to the fire-afflicted communities as area residents vented against what they called a disorganized response to the huge fire.
Cyprus has been on high alert for fires this summer after three consecutive arid winters.