ATHENS, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Firefighters battling the
wildfires that charred large swathes of forests and forced thousands to flee
homes gained the upper hand by Monday afternoon.
Photo taken on August 24, 2009 shows the
fire-stricken mountain in a town in northern Athens, capital of Greece.
Greek fire brigade officials on Monday afternoon appeared confident that
efforts to extinguish the last remaining wildfires in Attica prefecture
would be successful by nightfall, with the emphasis now shifting to
preventing any rekindling of fires. (Xinhua/Kostas Tsiolas) Photo Gallery>>>
The declining wind had been helpful and it was hoped
that the last remaining wildfires in Attica prefecture would be put out by
nightfall, said authorities.
Officials from the Greek Fire Brigade press center
told Xinhua that there was no active fire front in Attica on Monday, but
firefighters were still on alert for possible flare-ups.
The officials said that the most ominous wildfire
still not under control was reported near Mount Kitheronas, where Attica
prefecture and Viotia prefecture converge at the Gulf of Corinth. The blaze
caused the evacuation of the Porto Germeno resort earlier in the day.
Another wildfire on the island of Chios was under
control, while a wildfire at the hilly bushland east of the harbor town of
Karystos was still burning.
Government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, speaking
during his afternoon briefing on Monday, said that the picture at the moment is
better, but the risk of new flare-ups still exists.
Antonaros said about 150 houses were damaged by the
fires. "More than 120,000 stremmas (30,000 acres) have been burnt. It is an
ecological disaster," Athens Prefect Yiannis Sgouros told NET TV channel.
The fire broke out late on Friday in the village of
Grammatiko 40 km northeast Athens and quickly spread to neighboring areas. The
Attica prefecture, which contains Athens and other important cities, declared a
state of emergency on Saturday.
Strong winds pushed the fires to residential
communities on the suburb of Agios Stefanos, 23 km northeast of Athens, on
Sunday.
In Northern Attica, two children's hospitals were
evacuated following the order of the General Secretariat of Civil Protection.
This NASA handout shows a satellite
image of smoke trails from the fires consuming several parts of the Greek
capital of Athens, Aug. 23, 2009. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis flew in Sunday
morning by helicopter to the disaster areas. "We are facing a great ordeal,"
said Karamanlis, "The fire department is making a superhuman effort."
The fires were reminiscent of those in 2007, when a
series of wildfires claimed 77 lives in the country. The fires were a great test
to Karamanlis' conservative government, challenged by opposition parties amid
dwindling popularity.
The socialist opposition PASOK party, ahead in
opinion polls, has said they will force a snap poll in March, when parliament
elects a new president.
Karamanlis' government has been accused of being slow
in implementing reforms needed to boost the economy, and it is also agonizing
from simmering violence after the country's worst riots in decades at the end of
last year.
Opposition parties blamed the rampant fires and the
huge losses on inadequate government responses. "Disorganization, indifference,
criminal negligence gave the final blow to Attica," said the liberal daily
Eleftherotypia.
A public prosecutor has ordered an inquiry into
whether the fires were caused by arson, which was not new to the country as
there were past experiences that developers set fires to obtain lands.
Hot summers in southern Europe have always been
dangerous with a high probability of wildfires. In Italy, a fire broke out on
Wednesday in the protected woodlands of Sicily's Mount Etna National Park, the
Italian forestry service reported.
The Mount Etna National Park covers more than 58,000
hectares of land around the largest active volcano in Europe. In addition to
spectacular lava flows, the reserve also boasts a large stretch of forestland,
home to a lot of wildlife.
In Spain, some 84,000 hectares have been damaged by wildfires this summer, according to officials from the Spanish Environment Ministry. Eleven people were killed in the fires, including nine firefighters.
