{"id":8300,"date":"2024-04-15T18:01:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T15:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8300"},"modified":"2024-04-15T18:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T15:01:05","slug":"cyprus-plans-expansion-of-firefighting-air-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8300","title":{"rendered":"Cyprus plans expansion of firefighting air fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyprus-plans-expansion-of-firefighting-air-fleet.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>The forestry department currently has a single operational firefighting plane at its disposal<\/strong>, but plans are underway to gradually expand the fleet and acquire self-owned airborne means rather than rely on rentals, officials said on Monday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"cypru-video-ads\" id=\"cypru-1197029404\">\n<div id=\"cypru-386321909\" data-cypru-trackid=\"478051\" data-cypru-trackbid=\"1\" class=\"cypru-target\">\n<div id=\"gpt-ad-6077679348764-0\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Speaking after a meeting here with Virginijus Sinkevicius, the European Commissioner for the Environment, the agriculture minister said that Cyprus is beefing up its airborne firefighting means as it preps for the coming fire season.<br \/>\n\u201cDue to the weather conditions, for the first time ever this year we\u2019re at full readiness from April 1 instead of May 1,\u201d minister Maria Panayiotou told reporters.<br \/>\nAnd the period for employing firefighters has been increased to eight months, starting from April.<br \/>\nPanayiotou noted that the government has given instructions for the purchase of 10 firefighting aircraft \u2013 to be acquired over a five-year span.<br \/>\nShe also recalled the recent decision, taken during a meeting chaired by President Nikos Christodoulides, to transfer the firefighting unit to the national guard.<br \/>\n\u201c<strong>Our priority is to safeguard the environment and to focus on fire prevention<\/strong>, as that is the primary and main pillar for dealing with fires, and that is why we have started boosting our ground-based resources,\u201d she said.<br \/>\nFor his part, acting director of the forestry department Andreas Christou said that right now they have one airplane that is operationally ready. The plane is based in Larnaca.<br \/>\nRegarding the acquisition (purchase) of additional aircraft, he said that two tenders are underway. For the first tender, concerning airplanes, the deadline for submission of bids expired on Monday. For the second, involving helicopters, the cutoff date for submission of bids expires at the end of April.<br \/>\nIn the meantime, Christou noted, <strong>Cyprus relies on other airborne means that belong either to the police or the national guard<\/strong>. Authorities also cooperate with the British bases \u2013 which can deploy two helicopters \u2013 as well as with neighbouring countries should the need arise.<br \/>\n\u201cEach year the [firefighting] aircraft go on standby as of May 1, and from then on we build up to the full capacity of our airborne means,\u201d the official said.<br \/>\nTypically, full airborne firefighting capacity is reached by the end of May, featuring seven aircraft.<br \/>\n\u201cThis year we started a little earlier, from April 1, due also to the prevailing weather conditions. As far as ground-based forces are concerned, we\u2019re at full deployment.\u201d<br \/>\nEarlier this month, during a discussion in parliament, officials revealed that Cyprus had no firefighting aircraft available. A forestry department official told stunned MPs that the <strong>eight aircraft under the forestry department\u2019s service<\/strong> <strong>were still being repaired.<\/strong><br \/>\nAs far as two private airplanes were concerned, one was set to return from Israel where it had been sent for repair works. The second would be ready in two-and-a-half months because its engine needed replacing.<br \/>\nIn total, the department was waiting on eight aircraft, the same official had said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The forestry department currently has a single operational firefighting plane at its disposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[764,4446,3258,460,461,353,1031,5732,3,1381,203,1312,118,2128,5264,4881,6519,6520,3134,250,3330,415,299,157,185,994,1346,655,3331,193,1799,184,4843,503,6388,4441,339,2401],"class_list":["post-8300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-agriculture","tag-agriculture-minister","tag-air","tag-bases","tag-british","tag-british-bases","tag-christodoulides","tag-conditions","tag-cyprus","tag-deadline","tag-environment","tag-expansion","tag-fire","tag-fire-prevention","tag-firefighters","tag-firefighting-aircraft","tag-firefighting-plane","tag-fleet-expansion","tag-forestry-department","tag-google","tag-google-news","tag-government","tag-israel","tag-larnaca","tag-main","tag-maria-panayiotou","tag-meeting","tag-national-guard","tag-news","tag-nikos-christodoulides","tag-parliament","tag-police","tag-president","tag-president-nikos-christodoulides","tag-safeguard","tag-service","tag-weather","tag-weather-conditions"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- 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