The flames threaten the village of Metaxohori in the Agia region near Larissa

GREECE requested urgent help from the European Union's civil protection mechanism on June 27 to combat wildfires that broke out across the country, amidst sizzling temperatures and heated controversy over the government's fire prevention and control measures. Two people were killed in the blazes.

More than 200 blazes engulfed forestland around the country, stretching Greek firefighting forces to the limit. EU members Italy, Portugal and France answered Greece's call for assistance on June 28. They agreed to send two water bombers. Italy and France had sent firefighting aircraft and personnel back in 1998 when Greece declared a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, a total of 24 water-bombing aircrafta nd 13 helicopters were assisting hundreds of firefighters on the ground on June 27 and 28 to combat the fires, sparked by an early-summer heatwave.

Greece's armada of firefighting aircraft includes Canadian-made Canadair type CL-215s and CL415 water bombers, as well as single-engine agricultural aircraft manufactured by PZL-Mielec in Poland. Greece is also spending as much as two million euros to lease four US-made Erickson S-64 Aircrane helicopters, five Russian Kamof helicopters and four Russian MI-26 helicopters.

Forestfires raged from Elounda, a holiday resort town on the island of Crete, all the way up to the central Greek prefectures of Larissa and Pieria, and included a huge blaze on the Saronic Gulf island of Poros that forced locals and tourists to evacuate their homes and hotel rooms in the coastal town of Megalo Neorio. Other forested areas ravaged by blazes include Ahaia, Ileia, Corinth and Argolida in the Peloponnese, as well as Magnesia and nearby Mandra and Avlonas and the eastern Attica coastal town of Rafina. Blazes also engulfed forested areas in the Zagori villages in the Pindus mountains in Epirus. Other major fires broke out on Mount Parnitha, northwest of Athens - where at least three homes were damaged - and Mount Pelion in central Greece, where three homes were destroyed.

Two men were killed in a forestfire in central Greece on June 27. The two victims, aged 36 and 42, were trapped in flames after abandoning their truck in a forestfire in Agia, outside the central Greek city of Larissa.

Greek emergency services and the civil protection agency sounded the alarm on June 28. They warned that dozens of areas across the country are at risk of wildfire. These include eastern Attica and the islands of Samos and Zakynthos, as well as Halkidiki in northern Greece.


Battling the forestfires in Myloi, in the Argolida region, east Peloponnese

Arsonists

Battling the forestfires in Myloi, in the Argolida region, east Peloponnese

Authorities and local residents in many fire-ravaged parts of the country believe that this week's blazes were sparked by arsonists who want to deforest land for construction purposes.

High temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds make forests especially vulnerable to fire in summer, but many are started by arsonists. Last summer, authorities said arsonists were responsible for the a devastating fire in eastern Attica that engulfed 750 hectares of forest and woodland.

Greece suffered its worst fires on record during the summers of 1995 and 1998.

_{(Athens News, AP)}