Justice Minister Anna Procopiou heralded this week’s fire safety awareness campaign under the slogan “our dreams must not become ashes”.
The fire services also welcomed the move, which marks 22 years that April 24-30 has marked a public awareness campaign on fire prevention.
Procopiou stressed that the government has fire prevention and response as key priorities with the president calling for a continuous evaluation and enhancement of the state’s capabilities.
The minister referred to the fatal Arakapas fire as a watershed moment which prompted the state to develop a wider surveillance and reporting system.
The first phase of that programme is nearing completion, she said – adding that €2.5 million has been spent on the installation of a real-time image transmission network at the Zenon coordination centre which links up with key services.
Tech is to play a key role in preventing, monitoring, and responding to fires as the minister explained that four surveillance points and four drones are crucial in early warning systems.
But personnel and fire service members remain the backbone of the state’s firefighting efforts, with Procopiou explaining that May 1 marks the beginning of the fire season.
Therefore, she explained, all fire services stations are to be fully staffed and additional patrols will take place.
The minister emphasised that the state is also in the final stage of filling the 260 vacant positions as is the selection of volunteer firefighters.
The minister also referred to the “Pyrsos” Exercise, which will involve all the state services involved and which will be held on May 24, 2023 will be held in the Limassol mountainous area in the context of better coordination of ground and air forces.
Finally, declaring the start of Fire Safety Week, the minister called on everyone to work and cooperate to protect our country from the nightmare of fires.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Dimitris Katsiflis said that the aim of this year’s Fire Safety Week is to dynamically inform, raise awareness and also to involve citizens in the efforts made to prevent fires in urban centres and in the countryside.
“To this end, various activities have been planned to educate the public on fire safety issues, as well as distribution of enlightening materials by our members in the countryside, schools, shopping centres, offices, hotels, private residences, National Guard camps and other organised groups,” he said.
Katsiflis also gave statistics during the conference, and specifically said that every year the fire department receives an average of 13 thousand calls of which 8500 are for fires – 5000 for rural and 3500 for urban fires.
At the same time, he referred to the development projects of the fire brigade, the various European programs that the service participates in, the renewal of equipment and fleet and new recruitment of personnel.
In his speech, CNP Insurance CEO Takis Fidias said, among other things, that the Fire Safety Week, which starts today, is important. “By working with the fire service, we can highlight the risks associated with fires and help people understand what measures they can take to protect themselves, their families, their property and the environment,” he said.
Phidias said there is great value in the long-standing initiative to organise Fire Safety Week. “Fighting fire is a challenge. Against this challenge we are all together. To not let our dreams turn to ashes,” he said.
The actions of this year’s Fire Safety Campaign will conclude with the Fire Safety Open Day Event to be held on Saturday, 30 April 30, 2023, from 10.00am to 2.00pm at Metropolis mall, in Larnaca.
