Firefighting jobs approved after Limassol fire, a little too late

Months before a deadly wildfire tore through the hills of Limassol, the Forestry Department was pleading for help. They needed firefighters. They needed boots on the ground. They needed them by April.

Instead, they got approval in mid-July, after the fire had already claimed lives.

Official letters, now made public by AKEL MP Christos Christofides, reveal that the Department of Forests had warned of critical staffing shortages as early as January 9, 2025. Their request? Urgent approval to hire 19 new firefighters and forest workers in time for the summer fire season.

The response? Silence.

In April, as the risk of wildfires increased, the department escalated the alarm, this time requesting 27 positions to deal with what they called “serious staffing issues.” That letter, too, was marked “Very Urgent.”

Still, nothing.

It wasn’t until July 16, just days after the deadly fire in Limassol, that the government finally approved the positions. The job postings went up on July 31, months too late to make any real difference this summer.

“They asked for forest firefighters for the summer,” said Christofides. “They got them for the winter.”

The wildfire, which devastated parts of mountainous Limassol and took lives, has triggered outrage, and now, serious questions.

The Forestry Department’s letters show they were not caught off guard. They warned of retirements, resignations, and a longer fire season stretching into November. They even set a clear deadline, February 14, to secure approvals in time for spring recruitment.

But bureaucratic delays pushed the entire process past the point of usefulness. With hiring and training timelines, new staff won’t be on the ground until late September, when the fire season is essentially over.

The revelations directly contradict government assurances that Cyprus was “fully prepared” for this year’s fire season.

“Today we show, with documents, how badly central planning has failed,” Christofides said. “This is not just mismanagement. It’s political negligence.”

He’s calling for answers:

• Who delayed the approvals?
• Why were urgent warnings ignored?
• And who will take responsibility now that lives have been lost?

The Forestry Department typically hires seasonal firefighters by March or April, giving them time to train and deploy before peak summer heat. But this year, that plan was effectively derailed—not by nature, but by bureaucracy.

The documents paint a clear picture: the warnings were there, in black and white. The danger was known. And yet, the system failed to act until it was too late.