Greek firefighters battle to contain 3 raging bush fires near Athens
Pastor Dale Morgan
Greek firefighters battle to contain 3 raging bush fires near Athens *
Europe News
Jun 15, 2009, 17:06 GMT
Eds: new fires, update
Athens (dpa) - Greek firefighters and residents battled side by side
Monday to contain three major bush fires that were quickly spreading to
residental areas across Athens, killing animals and burning through
forest and olive groves.
Gale force winds were hampering efforts by ten planes, two helicopters
and 35 fire trucks to put out the flames in the seaside suburb of Ano
Glyfada and Voula near Mount Ymittos.
The fire reportedly destroyed hundreds of acres of forest and olives on
Mount Ymittos.
'The fire is approaching many of the homes in the area,' said Glyfada
Mayor Giannis Theodoropoulos.
Residents could be seen fleeing their homes in panic while others
desperately attempted to extinguish flames along with hundreds of
firefighters which were threatening the heavily-populated southern
seaside areas of Ano Glyfada and Voula.
Thick black smoke covered the Greek capital Athens as a third fire broke
out in the northern suburb of Marathonas, burning through hundreds of
olive trees and killing dozens of animals.