THIS is the moment a British family returned to their smouldering home in Cyprus after it was destroyed by a deadly wildfire.
Lucy, 37, and Ben Armstrong, 38, grabbed their toddler, packed a few bags and bundled their three dogs into the car as flames closed in on their village of Souni.
Lucy and Ben Armstrong fled their home in Souni, Cyprus with their toddler Ethan
The damage to the family’s home, captured in drone footage shot by Ben, who is a filmmaker
The family hoped their home might be spared as their neighbours’ homes were
The Armstrongs, who tied the knot last October, have called the quaint village home for the past four years.
When they first saw smoke curling over the Troodos mountains, they didn’t panic – plenty of wildfires hit the Mediterranean island every summer.
But this time was different. These were the worst wildfires Cyprus had seen in half a century.
Two people were found dead in a burnt car and over 70 houses were destroyed amid a scorching 43C heatwave.
The fires, beginning on Wednesday afternoon, ravaged 40 square miles in the south – mainly in Limassol District, where Souni is located.
Speaking to The Sun, Ben said: “We lost everything that day, there’s nothing left.
“We had fish tanks in the house and there was absolutely nothing left of what was in the water except melted glass on the floor.”
The couple described the stress of packing in the dark as the flames neared – in another stroke of bad luck, the community was hit by a power cut that day.
They told their son Ethan to stuff as many toys as he could into a carrier bag while they raced around the house.
Ben said: “Our son is quite defiant at times and he was so compliant.
“He was really scared because he knew mummy and daddy were panicking, and we were in the dark.”
Discussing the day their lives were turned upside down, Lucy said it began as “a normal day”.
She first noticed the smoke while picking up Ethan from kindergarten.
“As I was driving back on the motorway I could see smoke up the hills towards where we live,” she said.
“The smoke just kept coming, it started getting thicker, covering the sun and the sun was turning red.”
By around 7pm the family of three decided to drive up to a viewpoint at the nearby village of Pano Kyvides.
There, all they could see was “a stretch of fire and smoke”.
In that moment, the couple knew they had to evacuate fast and quickly alerted their close-knit community on WhatsApp.
Ben said: “We didn’t realise how little time we had. I’m a filmmaker and photographer so I was upstairs in the office packing all my gear and shouting down to Lucy, ‘How’s it looking?’
“She was saying, ‘It’s glowing over the hills’. That’s when I looked out the window and thought: ‘Oh my god, you can see flames now’.”
Adding to their stress, the Armstrongs had already been without water or electricity for 24 hours.
Ben said: “We were in the dark, so we had to make sure we were keeping an eye on our three-year-old son while running around and trying to pack stuff.
“So I gave him a bag for life and told him to grab as many toys as he wants.”
The couple had been living in the home for the past four years
Lucy and Ben believe their home could have been saved if there had been more firefighting support in Souni
The devastating damage to the family’s home
They left just before 9pm, rushing to Lucy’s parents’ house, a 15-minute drive away.
Lucy said: “We all stank of smoke and were sweating. Ethan’s also been quite ill from the smoke in the last couple of days.
“I’m pretty sure he’s had some sort of smoke inhalation – or it could just be from the stress of the situation.”
After a sleepless night fearing another evacuation and unsure if their home survived, Ben set out at 5am.
“I followed his location the whole way up and my heart was racing,” Lucy said, weeping as she recalled the moment.
“I called him as soon as he got to our home and he said, ‘Lucy, it’s gone’.
“All the other houses on our street were okay, so he had hope he was going to come up to our home and everything would be fine.”
Lucy, who runs a kids’ entertainment business, lost at least £8,000 worth of bouncy castles and bubble houses in the fire.
Luckily, their house was insured, but that does little by way of easing their pain as it’s the place where they have “so many memories”, including Ethan taking his first steps.
The couple said four officials from the Cypriot government showed up on Friday morning, asking them to list everything they’d lost – from white goods and TVs to couches – to claim money from the disaster relief fund.
While they said the Cypriot government has been “really organised” in its recovery efforts, the couple believes the firefighting and evacuation efforts in their village fell short.
“We didn’t see any firefighters in our village, no police, no army. No one told us to evacuate – we were telling people to evacuate,” Lucy said.
The government has faced criticism from residents and community leaders over its evacuation efforts in Souni and Lofou, reports Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
Speaking on state radio on Thursday, Cyprus’ Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis said the firefighting and rescue effort had been “enormous” and that he had witnessed first-hand the wildfires’ “shifting winds and intensity”.
Lucy and Ben were told by “brave neighbours” who stayed behind that their house burnt down at around 2am.
The couple believe it could have been saved had there been more firefighting help on the ground.
But they are choosing to focus on the positives, saying they’ve been deeply moved by the kindness of their community.
“You never think you’re going to be one of these people that are in need of handouts,” Lucy said, “but the Cypriot people are just so kind – I can’t speak highly enough of them.”
She noted that Ethan’s headteacher has given him clothes and is even buying him new shoes, while parents from the school have been keen to donate money.
Christos, the owner of their local taverna, has opened up despite having no power or water, and taken it upon himself to feed the community, Lucy added.
The family plans to eventually move back to the village of Souni and rebuild their home.
“We love the people in that area – it’s a beautiful area and it will recover,” Lucy said, adding that she hopes to organise the replanting of fire-resistant trees.
For now, with the village still reeking of smoke and memories of their destroyed home still raw, they’re grateful to be living elsewhere – and to be alive.
The family’s home was destroyed by the wildfire
Burnt homes in Souni
APResidents try to extinguish the blazes[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
