For the first time, Cyprus has eleven primary fire extinguishing aircrafts in full operational readiness with trained crews, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Maria Panayiotou said, speaking on Wednesday before the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment on the impact of recent fires in Cyprus. She added that there are also six secondary aircrafts from the National Guard, the Police and the British Bases, and noted that the Forestry Department's response time is on average one of the fastest in Europe. The Minister added that the government has decided to acquire its own ten aircrafts, the cost for them has been budgeted and the procedures to acquire them are underway. She also noted that actions had been taken in order to lease fire fighting aircraft during the transitional period, adding that for the first time there are 11 primary aircrafts to respond to the fires, which however arrived the day the fires broke out in Paphos district and could not immediately take action. So urce: Cyprus News Agency