Property and vehicles damaged in forest fire
President says ‘great disaster’ avoided
FIVE homes and four vehicles were damaged in a large fire that broke out in the village of Ağırdağ on the southern-facing slopes of the Five Finger mountains late last Friday night.
A statement issued by the police said that the fire was caused by sparks from power lines coming into contact with each other due to strong winds, which then ignited dry weeds at around 11.45pm.
The statement said that a “detailed investigation of the fire” determined that the roof of two houses, the roof and windows of one house, the doors and windows of one house; an air conditioner outdoor unit, storage room, wooden pergola and plastic water tank in the courtyard of a house; the interior door and windows of an unused unfurnished house; and four vehicles were damaged. The police investigation into the incident continues.
Reports last Saturday said that the fire had burned an area covering 350 dönüms, and also reached the village’s primary school. While there were no deaths or injuries to humans, a number of animals kept in pens and wild animals reportedly died.
The orange glow of flames lit up the night sky and could be seen from the main Lekoşa-Girne dual carriageway.
Teams from the Fire Brigade, Civil Defence, Forestry Department, Dikmen and Lefkoşa municipalities, and the Security
Forces Command, supported by water tankers and work vehicles provided by companies and members of the public, spent several hours tackling the blaze.
It was brought under control by 4am, with cooling operations continuing on Saturday morning.
President Ersin Tatar and central and local government officials visited the scene of the fire to be briefed on the situation.
Mr Tatar told reporters at the scene that a “great disaster” had been averted due to the quick intervention.
He said that while it had not been possible to deploy
a fire-fighting helicopter at night, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces had taken photographs of the area to establish where the fire was burning the most intensely and direct teams on the ground accordingly.
Mr Tatar added that it was a “great misfortune” that the fire had started at night.