A Cyprus Fire Services official has dismissed claims that a team of firefighters and vehicles had been on hand to be dispatched to Portugal to help battle the devastating fire but were instead left grounded because they had no means of getting there.
On Monday, President Nicos Anastasiades expressed ‘his readiness’ to dispatch a team of firefighters after previously offering his condolences on Twitter to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio da Costa.
The following day, an article in Phileleftheros claimed that a team of 50 firefighters and several Fire Services pick-up trucks had been ready to go but were unable to make the trip to Portugal because Cyprus does not have the aircraft to conduct this specific type of transportation.
“I am unhappy about this story because it is not a reflection of the truth,” hit out Deputy Fire Service Operations Chief Marcos Tragkolas.
“The story claims that we were ready to be dispatched but were instead left grounded. We have a team ready in the event that assistance is requested from us – in accordance with the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism – but we were never left stranded due to the lack of a plane like the article claimed.”
Cyprus has sent taskforces from Civil Defence and Fire Services in the past, twice to Greece and once to Israel, but in all three occasions, a military plane from the country had flown to the island to collect the firefighters.
Soaring temperatures threaten efforts to bring a raging forest fire in Portugal under control, officials say in the country say.
The week’s highest temperatures of around 38’C are expected on Tuesday and together with windy conditions could reignite fires already quelled.
Civil protection officials say although 70% of the fire is under control, what remains is a source “of great concern”. At least 64 people have died in the fires since Saturday.
The latest of the victims was identified as a 40-year-old firefighter who died in hospital.
In his message on Monday, Anastasiades said that wanted to “take this opportunity to commend the bravery shown by the firefighting teams trying, under extreme conditions, to contain the fires. Cyprus is ready to send to Portugal a team of firefighters, in coordination with the EU`s Civil Protection Mechanism, to help the efforts to stop the raging fires”.