Two significant actions were announced yesterday by the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment, Maria Panayiotou, as part of Cyprus’s readiness in firefighting with aerial means, following the delay observed in the tendering process for the lease of a total of six firefighting helicopters and planes.
Firstly, the arrival of two firefighting helicopters from Jordan, which will remain in Cyprus at least until the arrival of the aerial means to be leased by the Republic of Cyprus.
Secondly, three helicopters, one from the British Bases, one from the National Guard, and one from the Police, will be available on a 24-hour basis for firefighting purposes with a response time of approximately 30 minutes.
At the same time, as announced by the competent Minister, “we are in contact with neighbouring as well as other countries where they are at our disposal, in case they need to provide us with aerial means.” A permanent solution to the problem will be provided by the purchase of 10 proprietary aerial means and by transferring the Aerial Means Unit to the National Guard.
From the first day the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment took office, she worked in a way to correct the omissions of others. Accepting the criticism without having the substantial responsibility and while already striving to complete the procedures to have, for the first time, preventive foreign aerial means stationed on the island, as well as to streamline the process so that at least one of the two aerial means owned by each service (Bases, National Guard, Police) responds immediately when needed.
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