In the Limassol district, the cause of the destructive fire, which raged in July, became a carelessly thrown out cigarette. This is stated in the official report of the American Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco, firearms and explosives (ATF), published on Thursday, August 28.
Specialists who arrived at Cyprus at the invitation of President Nicos Christolidis, after a detailed inspection of the place of fire, studying testimonies, photo and video materials, came to the conclusion that the flame arose at the roadside between Malia and Arsos. The fire was recognized as an accident.
A message about the fire was received at about 13:20 July 23, 2025. Due to strong winds and dry weather, the fire spread rapidly, covering 25 thousand acres of the territory, which is approximately 1.3% of the island area. Different types of landscape were injured: half of the burnt -out zone occurred on herbal fields, a third on dry vegetation, 16% - on forest areas, and more than 1% for residential quarters. The flame completely destroyed 224 houses, damaged another 308, and also destroyed or damaged about 300 cars. The victims of the tragedy were an elderly married couple, who found himself in a car at the epicenter of fire.
American experts noted that this year in Cyprus a long drought significantly increased the risk of fires. There were no electrical appliances or other sources of electrical ignition in the initial fire zone. According to their estimates, in those weather conditions, the probability of a fire when a fire -hazardous object gets on dry vegetation reached 100%.
During the inspection, two cigarette butts were found on the spot - one partially charred and one completely burned out, which were handed over to the Cyprus authorities. Other cigarette butts were found nearby, but the vegetation next to them was not affected. The investigation excluded versions such as arson, the use of explosives or pyrotechnics, a lightning entering, refractive of sunlight through glass, spontaneous combustion or sparks from automobile brake pads. In the place of fire, traces of prolonged illegal garbage storage are also recorded.
Witnesses said that a small focus of fire was seen about half an hour before the start of the active actions of firefighters. One of the local residents tried to call rescuers, but because of the complexity of the relief, he could not put out the fire on his own. The first discharge of water from the air began at about 14:20. According to the inhabitants of Malia, at the time of the start of the fire, a strong wind blew, which quickly smashed the flame.
This tragedy has become one of the largest in the latest history of Cyprus. Environmentalists warn that decades will go on the restoration of scorched territories, and the authorities are already discussing the tightening of liability measures for the release of garbage and cigarette butts in natural zones, as well as the expansion of the video surveillance system in areas with increased fire hazard.
Source: Cyprus-Mail.com
