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Greek authorities have declared a state of emergency in and around Athens and at least 10,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes as wildfires continue to sweep through thousands of acres of forest near the capital.
Scores of homes were destroyed on Sunday as fires fanned by strong winds raged unchecked for a second day.
Some people were refusing to leave their properties as the flames approached the suburbs of Aghios Stefanos, Anthoussa, Pallini, Pikermi and Dionyssos, Greek officials and witnesses said.
Many people sprayed water throughout their properties and cleared brush and beat embers with tree branches as they frantically tried to stop the flames from reaching houses.
“I feel lost, I don’t know what to do … there’s nothing left, everything is burnt,” said Yiannis Tedoros, a resident of Dionyssos village.
‘Palls of smoke’
Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips, reporting from Athens, said: “June, July and August are very, very dry and very, very dangerous periods for fires.
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“What tends to happen in August in Greece – and it happens with a vengeance – is that the hot, dry winds pick up.”It is those winds which make it so difficult to predict in what direction the fire may be going from one moment to another.
“It is extremely difficult for helicopters and aeroplanes carrying water to get off into the sky … as there are huge palls of smoke over those northern suburbs above Athens and that makes flying very difficult.”
Greek authorities declared a state of emergency in eastern Attica on Saturday where the flames gutted about 30,000 acres of forest, farming fields and olive groves.
Yiannis Sgouros, the Athens prefect, told Greek television: “It is an ecological disaster.
“More than 120,000 stremmas (30,000 acres) have been burnt.”
“We are facing a great ordeal,” Costas Karamanlis, the prime minister, said. ”The fire department is making a superhuman effort.”
Karamanlis made a helicopter tour of the afflicted area on Sunday and chaired an emergency government meeting.
‘Extremely difficult’
The Greek weather service warned winds were not expected to abate before Monday night, hindering fire-fighting efforts.
“The situation is extremely difficult due to the weather conditions,” said Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the interior minister.
Greece has asked its allies for help. Italy, France and Cyprus are expected to send fire-fighting aircraft.
The handling of the fire, the biggest since Greece’s worst wildfires in living memory killed 65 people in a 10-day inferno in 2007, will be crucial for the premier’s political fate as the conservative government gears up for a snap election by March.
Karamanlis’s government, which is clinging to a one-seat majority in parliament, trails the socialist opposition in opinion polls.