Firefighters yesterday scrambled to prevent a huge forest fire that has raged for hours in the rural outskirts of Athens and threatened hundreds of homes, from reaching the capital's northeastern district.
Fire crews, bulldozers and water trucks formed up on the higher slopes of Mount Penteli, east of the capital, as the fire crept up a ravine below after burning back and forth through pine forests and farmland during the day.
As authorities declared an emergency, a large force of firefighters fought the fire on several fronts to protect hundreds of rural and summer homes which their residents refused to abandon despite an evacuation order.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said firefighters and volunteers were waging a "big and difficult battle" under extremely adverse conditions.
The firefighters faced winds up to 49 kilometres per hour that regularly changed direction, and only have a few hours to master the fire before their air support is withdrawn for the night, officials noted.
"(Without air support), firefighting crews can do little except get burned alive out there," local councils' association chairman Dimitris Kalogeropoulos told state television NET.
A force of 160 firefighters with 53 fire engines, 12 water-bombers and seven helicopters assisted by army bulldozers and municipal water trucks had earlier battled the fire in the communities of Grammatiko, Varnavas and Kalentzi, around 40 kilometres northeast of Athens.
The communities were spared major damage but the blaze subsequently surged westwards towards Mount Penteli, the last barrier to the furthest reaches of Athens.
The flames also raged in the hills near Marathon, one of the agricultural areas feeding the capital and the main source of its water supply.
Greek media reported that several homes burned down but the fire department could not confirm the reports.
"This is a difficult day that requires composure and we must all lend a hand," fire department spokesman Yiannis Kapakis told reporters.
"We are doing whatever is possible to limit the extent of the disaster."
As smoke billowed across the eastern Athens sky, the blaze evoked memories of a 2007 wave of wildfires that killed 77 people and destroyed thousands of acres of forest, including part of the Mount Parnitha national park northwest of Athens.
Authorities declared a state of emergency and the fire department ordered an evacuation but television footage showed many residents still defending their homes with water hoses as fire-fighting aircraft dove into neighbouring Lake Marathon to refill their tanks.