Fire-fighters gain upper hand against Greek inferno

Exhausted fire-fighters yesterday said they had managed to contain wildfires which had been bearing down on Athens and threatened ancient Greek landmarks after a round-the-clock rescue effort.

After a weekend of devastation which saw hundreds of residents evacuated from their homes in the suburbs, thousands of hectares of woodland reduced to cinders and fears that Athens would soon be choked by smoke, respite finally came when heavy winds died down.

Crews on the ground have been backed up by water-bombers flying overhead since Friday and their efforts finally began to pay off as the plumes of black smoke receded although the smell of burnt wood was all pervading.

A fire service spokesman said that while fire crews would remain on standby in case the flames flared up again, the situation had been brought under control everywhere apart from around Porto Germeno, to the west of the capital.

"The situation has improved, there is no more significant active fronts in the Athens region," fire service spokesman Yannis Kapakis told reporters.

More than 500 fire-fighters have been involved in the effort to douse the fire around Athens, bolstered by counterparts from France, Italy, Austria, Cyprus and even Greece's traditional rival Turkey. Around 300 troops have also been on standby.

The fires have threatened some of Greece's most important archaeological sites including the ancient Athenian fortress of Rhamnous, near Grammatiko, where firefighters were again battling yesterday to hold back the flames.

The plain of Marathon, site of the battle in 490 BC between the ancient Greeks and invading Persians, was also engulfed in smoke over the night. Meanwhile, fire crews managed to save the Pantokrator Monastery, which was founded in the mid-14th century, from being burned down after the nuns occupying it refused to evacuate.

News also emerged of other fires bringing havoc to some of the country's tourist retreats, including the Ionian resort island of Zante and Skyros, an island in the Aegean Sea.

Before it emerged that the tide was turning, residents voiced anger over the fire crews, with some saying they had been abandoned to face the flames on their own while others made frantic appeals for assistance.

"The fire is 500 metres away and we're choked in smoke," a woman from the community of Dioni, threatened by the fires, told Greece's Mega channel