Greece wildfires prompt evacuations
July 17, 2015
Wildfires burned through brush and woodland near the Greek capital, Athens, on Friday, while at least three villages and two summer camps were evacuated in the country's southern Peloponnese region as firefighters struggled to contain blazes there.
In Athens, smoke drifted across the city as the fires raged nearby, threatening some inhabited areas. Firefighters were deploying several aircraft to help combat the flames, helped by several residents.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras urged calm, saying that he had asked the air force and armed forces for help. He appealed to other European countries to send extra firefighting aircraft to assist.
In the south of the country, forest fires in the Lakonia area on the tip of the Peloponnese peninsula were being fanned by strong winds, which also whipped up big waves that hampered rescuers trying to evacuate by boat scores of people trapped on a beach. The coast guard later said some 200 people were ferried to safety, while twelve other people were rescued from a separate beach.
One firefighting plane was forced to make an emergency landing. The pilots were not injured.
Forest fires are common during Greece's hot, dry summers. In 2007, the most serious outbreak of the past few years killed more than 60 people and caused huge damage to dozens of villages.
tj/kms (Reuters, AP, dpa)