Cigarette butt could have started weekend’s forest fire in Limassol district
Source: in-cyprus.com
The possibility of a cigarette butt starting the fierce forest fire in Limassol district over the weekend that has burnt some nine square meters of land is not ruled out.
This is what Philenews reported on Wednesday, adding that arson is not ruled out either even though several possible suspects have been interrogated and nothing seems to back this possibility.
“Although there was initially some information about a vehicle stopping on the side of the road at the point where the fire broke out, so far nothing suspicious has come up,” the report said.
“As for the Fire Service, it does not rule out the possibility that the fire may have been accidentally sparked by a cigarette butt,” it added.
Firefighting crews from Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Britain, came to the assistance of Cyprus to battle the forest fire.
The blaze quickly spread through a semi-mountainous region, prompting the precautionary evacuation of communities.
Israel, Greece and Lebanon sent firefighting aircraft and crews, bolstering those of Jordan, which had been on the island for another fire from last week, and many local volunteers. Britain’s RAF Akrotiri, which lies south-west of Limassol, was resupplying and refuelling many of the aircraft involved, as well as offering fire engines and firefighting personnel.
The mountain region north of the southern city of Limassol is among the most densely forested on the island, and the fire followed a particularly extended heat wave which, in some areas, exceeded all records.
The original article: belongs to in-cyprus.com .
