Fire service kept busy over the weekend

Over the past three days, the fire services said they had responded to 89 calls for help, 53 fires, 31 special services and five hoax calls.

The incidents, up until 6am on Monday, dealt with included two fires that destroyed several hectares of land in Alaminos in Larnaca and Anarita in Paphos.

Two hectares of dry grass, reeds and other wild vegetation were destroyed in Alaminos on Sunday afternoon. The fire broke out around 2.30pm and was brought under control just before 6pm with the help of teams from the fire department, the emergency services Emak and firefighting units from the game service and the forestry department.

A team remained overnight on Sunday in case of a resurgence. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Following the outbreak in Alaminos, a fire broke out in a rural area near Anarita around 3.30pm and was brought under control around half an hour later but not before burning a hectare of vegetation. The fire service said the blaze appears to have started on the side of the road.

A number of hay bales also caught fire on Sunday in a field between Koloni and Yeroskipou in Paphos. It took around 45 minutes to extinguish. Authorities said the fire appeared to have been caused by someone using a flamethrower to control insects, and spread to the hay bales.

In urban areas, a fire was extinguished in a first-floor apartment building in Ayios Dometios in Nicosia.

The fire broke out in a bedroom of a building – a former hotel converted into a shelter for unaccompanied minors – and had extended into a second bedroom. The two bedrooms and their contents were extensively damaged.

A large number of minors live in the building but were evacuated quickly once the blaze broke out. Investigations indicated an arson attack.

Also in Nicosia, two people sustained burns when a grill with a chimney caught fire at a takeaway in Ayios Pavlou Street. The pair were taken by private vehicle to hospital before the fire service arrived and treated for burns to their hands. The fire service said the grill and chimney had gone up in flames due to a build-up of grease.