NICOSIA (Reuters) - A huge forest fire raged in southwest Cyprus on Wednesday, threatening holiday homes on the parched island, fire authorities said.
They said the fire was being kept away from residentialareas but at least three holiday homes were badly damaged.
"It is very large, it is very difficult to gauge right nowhow big it is. It has yet to be brought under control," firebrigade spokeswoman Lisa Kemidjis said.
Helicopters from British military bases in Cyprus wereassisting local firefighters and Greece was expected to sendaircraft later on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, whichstarted before dawn and quickly spread through the mountainousregion between the coastal cities of Larnaca and Limassol.
Cyprus is experiencing one of its worst droughts on recordand plans to start importing water from Greece this month.
(Reporting by Sarah Ktisti; editing by Andrew Dobbie)
