The creation of a Coast Guard, which will be independent of the Police, was announced by the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Costas Fitiris, at a press conference he held on Monday in Nicosia.
As the Minister noted, the Coast Guard will have under its protection the maritime area from the coastline to the depths of the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). "The core of the Coast Guard will be the Coast Guard and the helicopter squadron. There will also be cooperation with the Port Authority, which has the monitoring system, as well as the vessels of the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. This will be the proposal that will go to the Cabinet. The relevant forces must be gathered for the relevant missions. We are a small state and there is a dispersion of responsibilities. The time has finally come to gather forces, reduce costs and have a rapid response with high efficiency. This is the goal and I believe that we will achieve it," said Mr. Fytiris.
The Minister of Justice also announced the creation of a Critical Infrastructure Security Protection Unit, such as airports, fiber optic sites and the energy center.
Regarding the modernization of the Fire Service, Costas Fytiris presented a plan with nine actions to strengthen the Corps. According to the presentation, the Ministry's plans include the acquisition of four van-type vehicles, two 6X6 vehicles (EMAK), as well as the procurement of 21 firefighting vehicles (5 rescue vehicles, 5 first-exit firefighting vehicles, 3 vehicles for responding to narrow roads and 8 water transport vehicles).
Additionally, the Ministry's announced actions include the installation of 15 electro-optical automatic fire detection sensor systems in industrial zones and critical infrastructures, the procurement of two drone transport vehicles and the replacement of new-type multilayer firefighting fleets. There will also be the installation of the first phase of a wireless network MANET for image, video and data transfers.
Costas Fytiris also mentioned that the ARGOS crisis management system will be implemented, adding that the Fire Department will procure two mobile tactical level (C2) centers for incident management.
In total, 2.351 people were rescued by the Fire Department in 2025, according to the statistics presented. In the same year, 7.154 fires were recorded, of which 3.585 were urban and 3.569 in the countryside. Special services totaled 5.259, while false calls reached 988.
