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Fire-fighters, planes battle wildfires near Athens

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-24 17:32

ATHENS: Fire-fighters battled wildfires on Monday that swept through homes and huge swathes of forest near Athens, forcing thousands to flee, and were beating back the main front of the inferno on its fourth day.

A volunteer tries to extinguish a forest fire in the village of Kato Souli, about 50 km (31 miles) northwest of Athens, August 23, 2009. A huge wildfire fanned by strong winds cut a swathe of destruction near Athens on Sunday, burning houses, razing large patches of forest and sending thousands fleeing their homes, authorities said. [Agencies]

A dozen Greek, Italian and French fire-fighting planes tried to douse flames fanned by strong early morning winds. The operation is testing state resources, as well as a conservative government facing the threat of an early election by March.

"Air forces are operating since early morning and we hope the fire front will be controlled within the day," said Iordanis Louizos, mayor of Nea Makri, a town threatened overnight and on the fire-fighting frontline.

The fires had retreated from Athens suburbs late on Sunday, when authorities used loudspeakers to urge thousands to leave their communities. Flames were burning mainly forest land but strong winds were creating flare-ups, authorities said.

Related readings:  Thousands flee raging wildfires in Greece  Dozens of wildfires reported in Greece  Forest fire out of control near Athens  Wildfire threatens villages in central Greece

While thousands abandoned what are mainly holiday homes around Athens, many frantically used garden hoses and tree branches to try to stop the flames reaching their properties.

The handling of the fire, the biggest since Greece's worst wildfires in living memory killed 65 people over 10 days in 2007, will be crucial to Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

His government is clinging to a one-seat majority and the socialist opposition, ahead in opinion polls, has made clear it will use a March parliamentary vote, when a new president will be chosen, to force a snap election.

OPPOSITION CRITICISM

Opposition parties said fire fighting efforts could have been better coordinated. The Communist KKE party urged the government to hire more planes.

"What matters is to cover the huge shortcomings in the fire-fighting infrastructure," KKE leader Aleka Papariga said.

The government declared a state of emergency in eastern Attica on Saturday, where the flames seared about 37,000 acres (15,200 hectares) of forest, farm fields and olive groves.

Amid weather service warnings of strong winds until Monday evening, help from Greece's European Union allies arrived. Two Italian and a French aircraft, as well as a helicopter and about 40 fire fighters from Cyprus joined the battle.

Four helicopters, 187 fire engines and about 430 fire fighters also battled the blaze, fire officials said. Some 300 soldiers were also dispatched.

The fire broke out late on Friday in the village of Grammatiko about 40 km (25 miles) northeast of the Greek capital and quickly spread to neighbouring villages. A children's hospital, a home for the elderly and a monastery were evacuated.

Summer fires are frequent in Greece, often caused by high temperatures and winds, drought or arson. Hundreds of fires across southern Europe in July destroyed thousands of hectares of forest and gutted dozens of homes.