Two firefighting helicopters with their 18-member crew arrived in Cyprus from Jordan to support the Republic of Cyprus’ aerial firefighting.

The crews were welcomed at the “Andreas Papandreou” Air Base by the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Maria Panagiotou, who expressed the gratitude of the Republic to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Royal Jordanian Air Force for their positive response to the country’s call.

In her greeting during the welcome event, Mrs. Panagiotou stated that the firefighting helicopters will remain in the country together with their 18-member crew, at least until the arrival of the aircraft that will be leased by the Republic of Cyprus joining forces with the Department of Forests and the competent authorities in the effort to effectively combat fires.

The training of the crews, noted the Minister of Agriculture, is to begin immediately and the helicopters will be operationally ready to extinguish fires in the next 24 hours.

Afterwards, Mrs. Panagiotou personally thanked the Minister of Defence, Vassilis Palmas, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Konstantinos Kombos, the Chief of the National Guard, Georgios Tsitsikostas, the Directorates of the Department of Forests and Civil Defence and the Ambassador of Cyprus to Jordan, Michalis Ioannou, for the help they provided in completing the procedures and getting the helicopters to Cyprus.

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At the same time, she said that thanks to the positive response of the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Justice, Marios Hartziotis, and the Commander of the British Bases, Peter Squires, it was ensured that at least one of the two aircraft that each service has is available on a 24-hour basis for firefighting purposes with a response time of approximately 30 minutes.

At the same time, Mrs. Panagiotou said that she is in contact with neighboring countries in case the provision of aviation means is rendered essential.

The Minister pointed out that for the Republic of Cyprus the prevention of fires and their timely treatment is a matter of national security, adding that it is on these grounds that the Government is proceeding with the purchase of ten privately-owned aircraft and the transfer of the Aircraft Unit to the National Guard.

With regard to the operational readiness of the Republic of Cyprus for preventing and extinguishing fires, it is recalled that in addition to the aviation means (Department of Forests, Jordanian, National Guard, Police and British Bases) the ground forces of the Forests Department are reinforced and in full readiness by on April 1st (instead of May 1st as was the case in other years), while the Fire Service, Civil Defence, District Commands and the Hunt and Wildlife Service are also on alert.

Source: Pafos Live

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