Personal account: The guest’s experiences and criticism are attributed to the interview. Use official emergency instructions for decisions during a fire.
What the interview covers
The publisher’s description introduces Sergey as a mobile-game developer and Reforest Network co-founder. He discusses his experience of the July 2025 fires, difficulties with communication and water, and efforts to protect his home. His account of police cordons and remaining near the fire describes his experience; follow the authorities’ instructions in an actual emergency.
The video was uploaded on 22 January 2026 and lasts 21 minutes 8 seconds. References to the fire describe the earlier event, rather than current conditions.
Publisher’s chapters
- 01:11 — Sergey’s experience and the scale of the fire
- 02:26 — Cordons, communication and water
- 04:37 — The platform idea for organisations, volunteers and sponsors
- 05:54 — Project history before and after the fire
- 06:50 — A forest-restoration initiative discussed by the guest
- 07:56 — Prototype, map and sponsor discussion
- 09:21 — Transparency in ecological projects
- 10:59 — The guest’s account of extreme fire conditions
- 12:03 — Early detection and infrastructure
- 13:49 — Pumps, generators and water points
- 14:48 — The guest’s discussion of fire causes
- 16:43 — Criticism of government assistance
- 17:23 — The guest’s account of payment delays
- 18:51 — Society and government roles
- 20:38 — Conclusion
Dated evidence about the fire
In a report published on 25 July 2025, the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence estimated approximately 125 km² burned in the Limassol district. It used PlanetScope imagery captured on 24 July 2025 at 09:00 UTC and explicitly described the fire as still active. This was an initial assessment, subject to revision, rather than a final area measurement.
Reforest Network: goals and published status
The project website describes a digital platform intended to connect forest-restoration organisations, volunteers and eco-sponsors in Cyprus. Its stated goals include collaboration and transparency; these descriptions do not establish restoration outcomes.
The website offers a browser map. Its demo section describes real satellite imagery and elevation data alongside manually added demonstration data, including dummy wildfires. The project’s January 2026 version 0.6 update reports map navigation and data-layer changes, and lists user registration, organisation editing and native iOS/Android apps among future priorities. Confirm the latest features with the project; the demo is not an official emergency-alert service.
The website identifies Mellow as its first sponsor. This corrects the “Mow” name in the interview’s publisher description.
Assistance and emergency contact
The guest discusses payment delays and criticises the response. Those are his accounts, rather than independently verified findings about every affected household or insurance settlement. The government published support-measure explanations on 30 July 2025. An announced measure alone does not show whether an individual payment was received.
The Cyprus Fire Service’s 8 May 2026 announcement says that all emergency calls requiring its response, including fires and rescues, should be made exclusively to 112.
Watch the interview for the guest’s experience and project discussion. For further planning, see our safety guide and utilities guide.
Useful Links
See also: Moving to Cyprus — Complete Expat Guide
Have questions? Leave a comment under the video on YouTube!