The Fire Service hopes to shortly be in a position to man four new stations in the Nicosia and Limassol districts around the clock.
The four areas– Nisou, Peristerona, Moniatis and Evrychou—already have fire stations but these will be upgraded and in some cases even moved to other buildings to better meet contemporary needs.
The Fire Service also aims to have enough permanent staff to be on call 24-hours throughout the year at all four stations, which is currently not the case.
They come in addition to a new one at Vasiliko which will be responsible for fighting any fires in the energy hub being created in the area.
Already home to a power station and cement works, fuel storage currently housed on Larnaca’s east coast is to be moved to the Vasiliko area from next year.
Fire Service Chief Marcos Trangolas said the ultimate aim was to ensure the new stations would be manned 24 hours a day, year-round.
He also revealed that after a lengthy delay, the Nisou first station would be moved to a building to be constructed for the purpose after the €200,000 required for the project was released.
It will be constructed opposite the Forum School on land acquired some time ago.
The relevant permits were also obtained some time ago but construction was delayed by budgetary restraints.
Responding to 250 fires a year, the current Nisou station is situated near the community’s police station and is manned by temporary staff.
Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou has submitted three proposals suggesting upgrades to police and Fire Service training to the Cabinet.
The proposals include police cadets spending a semester at the University of Cyprus to study subjects connected to their duties.
Cooperation will also be entered into with the police and fire service academies in Greece allowing Cypriots to undergo training there for up to a year.
Currently, overseas training usually amounts to no more than a few days.
The proposals come ahead of proposed legislation separating the Fire Service and the police.
A relevant bill is currently being examined by the Law Office of the Republic ahead of being sent to the Cabinet and parliament.