Blaze breaks out between the villages of Choirokitia and Vavla

A fire has broken out between the villages of Choirokitia and Vavla, the fire services announced on Wednesday.

The blaze was reported to have begun just after 2pm, while the entire forestry department force has been called to the scene.

According to the department, 16 large firefighting vehicles are in the area, along with two medium sized ones, four bulldozers, and four water tanker trucks.

Around 90 firefighters are at the scene, while the two airplanes from the department are also working to put out the blaze, along with two aircraft from the fire services, and one from the police.

In a post, the fire services’ spokesman Andreas Kettis stated: “Our ground forces with a total of four fire engines from Limassol are heading to a fire, which occurred in dry grass and low wild vegetation.”

He added that another four fire engines from the forestry department and 2 from the game fund are in the area, along with four aircraft.

The forces are being reinforced with additional fire engines from Limassol and Nicosia. At the same time, the forestry department is increasing its fire engines to 14 with the support of excavators. The fire service is reinforcing its forces with fire engines and personnel from four districts (Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, and Paphos).

Individual livestock farms and individual residences were protected by the firefighting forces. The civil defence and organised volunteer groups have also been informed and are responding with their teams.