Only in one case of a fire caused maliciously in Cyprus between the years of 2002 and November 2020 a penalty was actually imposed.
And that was just for €400, according to data released by the Audit Service which looked into the Department of Forestry’s effectiveness and efficiency along with the cost of implemented measures to prevent fires.
This is what Philenews reported on Thursday, adding that up to date the investigation/adjudication of five such cases are still pending.
Three of the cases were recorded in 2011, 2012 and 2018, respectively, and the remaining two in 2020.
As for measures to prevent the malicious spark of forest fires, the Forestry’s bid seems to have failed since the percentage of them in the years 2017-2020 remains approximately the same. That is between 30% to 34%.
As regards forest fires in the years 2016-2020, the causes behind them are only known for about 81% and divided into anthropogenic (74%) and natural (7%).