Devastation caused by Fire

By Margaret Sheard

We were very disturbed to hear the news of the recent fire in the Yeșilirmak area, especially as our good friend Ismail Ișilsoy lives there so we were immediately in touch with him to ensure he and his family were safe. He replied to say they were ok but the village was full of smoke and it was hard to breathe.

Like many other people, we kept an eye on the news coming in from various sources and the next day we received photos of the devastation caused by the fire. It has been said that 7,000 acres have been destroyed but I cannot confirm if this is correct or not at this point. We have heard many conflicting accounts of how this fire started but I suppose we will never be sure. There have been recent fires in the USA and other countries with a tragic loss of life, thank goodness there were no fatalities here.

The most important point is when a fire starts at this time of the year, with the trees and undergrowth being as dry as tinder, it will spread rapidly and do we have the means of controlling and extinguishing fires? It would seem not. I had a comment that a helicopter would come from Turkey the following morning! A bit late don’t you think! What North Cyprus needs is a helicopter(s), strategically placed, to cover both east and west of the north of the island, on call to deal with this type of emergency. There could be an added bonus of also using a helicopter as an air ambulance which would make a helicopter service even more viable.

Unfortunately, this resource is not available at the moment so the country is left with what was a beautiful green area now burned black and basically an eyesore until nature heals the devastation. Nature will play its part eventually, possibly with a little help from the human element of our planet.

So how did this happen? Below is a statement made by President, Derviș Eroğlu following his visit to the stricken area.

“Having examined the border which was also damaged during the fire, President Eroğlu has made a statement, expressing that the fire was extinguished before reaching Yeşilırmak and thanked everybody who made an effort.

President Eroğlu reminded that it is the third time that a fire breaking out in Pirgo has spread into the TRNC.’

‘I will not comment on the fire until we have proof but we have some worries and suspicions’ said Eroğlu and added that it needs to be discussed if this incident was by chance or consciously.”

Source: TRNC Public Information Office

We have the early days of the formation of a new Government and I do hope that dealing with a catastrophe such as this will be on their agenda. This part of the island of Cyprus is beautiful and it should remain so.