The federal government is to purchase ten non-public plane with the purpose of increasing its firefighting capability, Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou stated on Saturday.
Chatting with the Cyprus Information Company (CNA), she stated the federal government’s hand had been compelled by the “new actuality” concerning wildfires attributable to local weather change.
“Now, we’re speaking about extra frequent fires that are harder to extinguish. This implies the best way we handled them earlier than should change,” she stated.
She stated that because of this, the forestry division has “proceeded in a well timed method to strengthen its floor forces”, growing its fleet of automobiles with a €5.5 million funding. This, she stated, has improved standby time.
“From this 12 months, the forestry division … is operationally prepared from April and never from Could. It has bolstered its floor forces with fireplace engines and different automobiles and is at operational readiness a month sooner than different years,” she stated.
“On the identical time, there’s additionally the query of buying the technique of aviation. We see this as a mater of nationwide safety, and that’s the reason the current resolution to switch the aviation tools unit to the Nationwide Guard was taken,” she added.
She stated that even with this restructuring, “it has grow to be obvious that our aviation infrastructure is inadequate, and that’s the reason we’re continuing with the acquisition” of the ten privately owned plane.
In the meantime, she stated, problems with understaffing on the forestry division are additionally being resolved, with the forthcoming reopening of the forestry school set to supply a steady provide of entrants into the workforce.
Requested if she was anxious in regards to the current improve within the variety of fires, she stated she was extra anxious about folks deliberately setting fires.
“Intentionally inflicting a fireplace and burning forest land is tantamount to taking a human life,” she stated.
“That is inadmissible, and it’s one thing which actually worries us, and that’s the reason the additional tightening of laws is underway, in addition to the taking of a sequence of different measures which is able to act as a deterrent.
“We should all perceive that we should keep away from any actions which can trigger fires. We all know that greater than 90 per cent of fires are attributable to human motion,” she stated.
She added that each one the components which contribute to decreasing and extinguishing fires are vital, however that “crucial is the human issue”.
“They’re the forest officers, the forest firefighters, the skilled firefighters, the firefighting volunteers, the civil defence, the sport fund, all of them who battle the flames each single summer time. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude,” she stated.
