The fire has been brought fully under control, philenews has learned from the Coordination Centre in Agia Anna.
Crews are now securing the fire fronts, which are no longer active.
The fire broke out following National Guard live-fire training exercises at the Kalo Chorio firing range, prompting the evacuation of Agia Anna and forcing Civil Defence to relocate 21 people from Mosfiloti, four of them with mobility problems.
Witnesses say they were told to ring church bells to warn residents of the fire. They said they had not received an alert message on their mobile phones.
The blaze spread beyond the firing range and reached a house on the mountain near Kalo Chorio, with a large mobilisation of volunteers and water tankers reported in Agia Anna. A volunteer firefighter was also injured after falling from a height while tackling the fire, and was taken to hospital by ambulance.
A makeshift Fire Coordination Centre had been set up in the Agia Anna area, with the central coordination centre based at the Zinonas Centre in Larnaca.
Anastasis Georgiou, Agia Anna’s community leader, hit out at President Nikos Christodoulides and Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas over the large fire that broke out in the Kalo Chorio area following National Guard training live-fire exercises.
“How can live-fire exercises take place in such temperatures and at this time of year? Last year, at exactly the same time, we prevented an exercise for the same reasons,” he told reporters.
He also stated that the National Guard’s decision to carry out the exercise unacceptable. Addressing the president and the minister responsible directly, he said: “They’re looking for the criminals who start fires, but they’re the ones starting them.”
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