Cyprus Republic has the largest number of firefighting aircraft than ever before, Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Minister Maria Panayiotou told the Cyprus News Agency, on Thursday, commenting on the arrival, recently, of two leased Black Hawk helicopters from Slovakia.
The two helicopters became fully operational and they were used last Monday to put out a fire in Limassol district.
Replying to CNA questions, Panayiotou said that the aim is for Cyprus to have ten private firefighting aircrafts in the coming years.
She said that it is important that the government has lease contracts to cover the needs of this period.
Right now Cyprus has 11 aircrafts, namely four helicopters and seven airplanes, as well as six helicopters as secondary aircrafts to be used in fire extinguishing. These are the two helicopters of the National Guard, two of the Police and two that belong to the British Sovereign Bases.
The Minister said that ten primary aircrafts have either been leased or given through inter
state agreements. They have their own crew, pilots and engineers.
Panayiotou said that soon vacancies for pilots will be announced by the Forestry Department. She said that the recruitment of pilots is part of the plan to strengthen and upgrade the firefighting aircrafts the Republic has. This plan includes the purchase of a total of ten privately owned aircrafts.
Panayiotou also said that there is operational readiness by the Republic, noting that the Forestry Department has one of the best average response times in Europe.
The aircrafts owned by the Forestry Department were purchased in 2006 and 2009. Panayiotou said that the aim is to buy at least three more in 2025.
She also said that the climate conditions are getting worse in Cyprus and therefore we must have our own means to put out fires. The island is witnessing extremely high temperatures for the past few weeks and the met service as well as the forestry department have been issuing warnings and advising the public accordingly.
Panayiotou noted
that the contract for next year’s leasing will be ready in time.
The Jordan aircrafts’ contract leasing expires September 30 and for the rest October 31. For some aircraft the leasing expires end of November.
Source: Cyprus News Agency