Cyprus mission’s effort in battling N. Macedonia fires appreciated, team member tells CNA [VIDEO]

Climate change has left North Macedonia unprepared to deal with the outbreak of fires, assessed Andreas Antoniou, who participated in the Cyprus Forestry Department's mission sent on August 7, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, to help tackle forest fires in the Chashka and Sveti Nikole areas, noting that they have the feeling that the effort of the Cyprus team was appreciated. 'We felt that they appreciated our effort. We are glad to have helped', Antoniou told CNA about the Cypriot aerial firefighting mission to North Macedonia. He expressed the hope that the mission and the positive atmosphere created would contribute to the improvement of relations between Cyprus and North Macedonia. He also referred to the expertise that the Forestry Department has developed over the decades, both in ground-based forest firefighting and aerial firefighting. He noted that the North Macedonian authorities were trying to implement many of the recommendations of the Cypriot mission. The mission to North Macedoni a, consisting of two Air Tractor AT-802s with four crew members and five ground support personnel returned to Cyprus on 14 August. Antoniou told CNA that preparations for setting up a team began right after the message from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism was received, on August 6, with the mission leaving for North Macedonia a day later. He added that they arrived in Skopje at 1.00 a.m. on August 8 and that despite their exhausting journey they were ready to operate at first light. According to Antoniou, the speed with which the Cypriot mission operated 'was unprecedented' for the firefighting forces operating in North Macedonia. He added that the Cypriot mission helped to improve the operation time of other groups, including the aircraft from Germany, both in terms of extinguishing a blaze and of refueling the aircraft. He also said that the wildfires caused a massive environmental disaster, but at the same time had a direct impact on people's lives, since they saw properties reduced to ashes. Sour ce: Cyprus News Agency