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Forest fire sweeps Athens
16/08/2007 17:50 - (SA)
Athens - A forest fire fanned by gale-force winds swept across Athens' northern suburbs on Thursday, torching dozens of homes and vehicles and forcing many residents to flee.
The blaze triggered a series of power cuts leaving many areas without electricity for hours while at least 10 people were taken to hospital with breathing problems.
The fire started at around 10:30 and raced down Penteli mountain, 20km north of the Greek capital, sending a thick dark cloud across the city, blocking out the sun and leaving the smell of charred wood in the air.
Residents of the Melisia, Vrilisia and Penteli suburbs could do nothing but watch helplessly as 30m high flames engulfed their homes. Others packed their belongings into cars and fled for fear of being cut off by the fire.
"This is a huge catastrophe," Melisia mayor Manolis Grafakos told reporters. "There are no words to describe it. A large chunk of the forest is gone, houses have been burnt and I do not think we are fully aware of the extent of the damage."
Gale-force winds prevented airplanes joining the fire fighting operations earlier in the day, allowing it burn out of control, the fire brigade said.
"From 11:00 to 12:30 the airplanes could not operate due to strong winds and thick smoke," fire brigade officer Nikolaos Diamantis told a news conference. "The situation is very difficult. There is damage to homes."
Greece's weather service said the winds would not die down before late in the evening.
More than 60 firetrucks, 19 airplanes and helicopters as well as hundreds of firefighters and volunteers were tackling the blaze in the capital's affluent northern suburbs, Diamantis said.
No power, no water, no help
A Reuters photographer said the fire stretched several kilometres around Penteli mountain, from the suburbs of Kifisia to the Vrilisia and Melisia areas further south-east.
Several private clinics and other institutions were also evacuated as a precaution.
Local residents, who accused state agencies of what they said was a slow response, told Greek television several homes had burnt down with no sign of the fire being stopped.
"There is no power, no water and no help. Our houses are doomed," one Penteli resident, in tears, told Greek television.
This summer Greece has seen some of the worst fires of the past decade, caused by record-high temperatures, drought and arsonists.
In late June, the biggest national park near the city, on Mount Parnitha, burned for three days leaving more than a third of the nature reserve charred.
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