Communities demand firing range closure following fire, years of problems

Local fireLarnacanational guardTop News Communities demand firing range closure following fire, years of problems Communities Demand Firing Range Closure Following Fire, Years Of Problems Relevant News Communities demand firing range closure following fire, years of problems 29 July 2026 EAC continues smart meter rollout across Cyprus in August 29 July 2026 Rehabilitation centre licensing gets underway across Cyprus 29 July 2026 Natasa Christoforou 29 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber As two parallel investigations by Police and the National Guard search for those responsible for the major fire that started at the Kalo Chorio firing range, residents of the area remain furious. What matters most to them, they say, is the immediate closure of a firing range that has repeatedly put their lives at risk. The fire was just the latest entry on a long list of serious incidents that, purely by luck, have not yet cost anyone’s life, they say. Over the past three years alone, six people were seriously injured at two recycling units in Aradippou when shells collected from the firing range exploded. “In the past, people would hang out washing and things would fall from the sky onto it, and once a bullet passed right next to a woman and lodged in her house,” former Kalo Chorio community leader Kyriakos Antzoulis told Philenews, citing just a handful of incidents from what he described as an endless list. “At one point, not long after 2010, explosions were cracking people’s houses, and when we complained, we were told the building materials were poor quality. I asked the ministry’s director-general at the time whether Kalo Chorio residents were the only ones who’d bought faulty cement. Another time, around 2013-2014, I went out with a police officer from the Aradippou station and we found unexploded shells buried in the fields. Once farmers stopped being afraid, they’d pick them up themselves and leave them at the edge of the firing range so they could plant their fields. Around that time, we’d managed to get them banned from doing anything at the range during the summer months. They also used to bring landmines from the Zygi area to destroy there. That’s when the explosions and the tremors stopped.” Antzoulis said he sent a large number of letters seeking the range’s closure during his 15 years as community leader. “At one point I sat down in the middle of the firing range just to get the explosions to stop. That’s how many complaints we made,” he added, describing Monday’s events as “irresponsible and unacceptable.” Residents of Psevdas were equally blunt. “The firing range needs to go. Shells have landed on the pitch while players were out there. That happened three or four years ago. One landed right in the changing rooms. It’s dangerous, do we need a priest to tell us that? They were lucky that time, thank God it didn’t explode and kill someone. Fine, we can let that one go, but this latest one was a tragedy,” said Paraskevas Erotokritou. Savvas Petrou recalled a shell landing near the Pyrga school. “The firing range needs to leave our area, it causes us nothing but problems. There are fires, and shells landing everywhere. Last time, one landed just outside the Pyrga school.” The matter looks set to continue, as community clusters in the area plan to formally renew their request for the range’s closure, according to Agia Anna community leader Anastasis Georgiou. Asked whether he still wants the Defence Minister arrested, he said yes. “I stand by those statements because we know who the arsonists are. If he wasn’t aware how this exercise would be carried out, then I’m very sorry — someone gives the orders,” he said, repeating that firebreaks in the area had not been cleared. The fire burned 120 hectares of pine trees, olive groves, shrubs and wild vegetation, with damage also reported to crops in the area. Search for those who gave the order Questions over who authorised the destruction of RPG rockets by the 70th Engineer Battalion remain unanswered, despite the Defence Minister openly assigning responsibility. A source familiar with the matter told Philenews the first steps relating to possible accountability will be taken within days, though the proper procedures will need to be followed first. On Monday, the Defence Minister met National Guard General Staff chief Emmanouil Theodorou, who was asked to appoint a criminal investigator. A statement followed naming Brigadier Savvas Stefanou as the investigator tasked with establishing the fire’s causes and circumstances, and examining possible disciplinary and criminal responsibility. The investigator will essentially need to determine why National Guard protocol was breached and why the relevant directive was not followed, which bars heavy weapons exercises and ammunition destruction between May and September because of high temperatures. Beyond that, three points need to be clarified: who was present during the ammunition’s destruction; whether the National Guard General Staff was informed in advance; and, if so, how far up the chain of command that information reached. The same source told Philenews that once a clearer picture emerges on these points, a decision will follow on whether anyone should be suspended, and who. This is the second such incident at this firing range in just a few months, leaving the National Guard badly exposed. In March, 13.6 kilos of TNT mixture went missing during a training exercise involving ammunition destruction by the 20th Engineer Company. Separately, Police — specifically the Aradippou Police Station — are also investigating to establish any criminal responsibility connected to the fire’s causes. Other agencies caught unaware It is notable that while the affected communities were informed three days in advance about the planned destruction of the explosives, the relevant state agencies do not appear to have been notified. Department of Forests director Savvas Iezekiel made this clear in comments to State Radio on Monday: “When there are firing exercises, we’re informed, we exchange letters and give our recommendations on whether it should be banned or not. Monday was a special case involving the destruction of explosives, and we had no knowledge of it.” Questions have also emerged over the smooth functioning of the Cy-Alert system, which failed to send evacuation orders for Agia Anna and Psevdas in time, forcing authorities to fall back on the traditional method of ringing church bells. “There was a problem with Cy-Alert, the message went out a little later, but the positive thing is that there was flexibility. We were in communication with the community leaders from the start, we had sent people to the area, and the evacuation went ahead as normal,” said Civil Defence press spokesman Panayiotis Liasidis, adding that checks will be carried out to identify the technical fault. 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