Tens of thousands of residents of Athens' northern suburbs evacuated their homes, fleeing in cars or on foot as a raging wildfire raced down a mountain slope in Greece toward the town of Marathon this evening.
Several houses were destroyed as the fire advanced across an area more than 31 miles wide.
More than 90 wildfires have ignited this weekend across Greece, and six major fires are burning late tonight. The Athens fire began on Mt. Penteli, which divides Athens from the Marathon plain, and has spread down both sides of the mountain.
Driven by gale-force winds, the blaze grew fastest near Marathon, from which the modern long-distance foot race takes its name.
One resident, Nikos Adamopoulos, said he had driven over a large part of the area and saw no firefighters.
"The Museum of Marathon is being encircled by fire and flames are closing in on (the archaeological site of) Rhamnus," he said. Rhamnus is home to two 2,500-year-old temples.
The mayor of Marathon said he had been "begging the government to send over planes and helicopters" to no avail.
"There are only two fire engines here; three houses are already on fire and we are just watching helplessly," mayor Spyros Zagaris told Greek TV.
Mr Zagaris was among several local leaders who accused the government of having no plan to fight the fire.
Finance Minister Yiannis Papathanassiou responded: "This is not the time for criticism under these tragic conditions. We are fighting a difficult fight."
Another official said emergency workers were exhausted.
"The firefighters, soldiers and volunteers fighting the fire are tired and their equipment is being used constantly and there is fatigue there too," said deputy Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis.
Other officials said help was on the way. Two planes were expected from France, and Cyprus was sending a helicopter, four fire engines and 60 firefighters, fire brigade spokesman Yiannis Kapakis said.
The Ministry of Defence announced that Austria will send six planes and helicopters. Opposition politicians have been restrained in their criticism so far.
But both Communist Party leader Aleka Papariga and Giorgos Karatzaferis, head of populist right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally, said the government had learned nothing from the catastrophic fires of August 2007, when 70 people died and several villages were totally destroyed in southern Greece.
A shift in wind helped halt the flames in the town of Agios Stefanos, an Athens suburb on the opposite side of the mountain from Marathon. Most of its 10,000 inhabitants had evacuated Sunday afternoon. By nightfall, the town was empty, authorities said.
The nine helicopters and 14 planes that operated during the day, including two planes sent from Italy, dumped some 4,000 tons of water on the fire, but apparently without much success. Television showed airplanes and helicopters dropping water on a forest outside Agios Stefanos — and the fire re-igniting moments after they left.
About 58 square miles (37,000 acres) of pine forest, brush and olive groves have burned. The forests around Athens' northern suburbs have helped the fire spread.
"The pine cones are like projectiles — they cover long distances, too, and spread the fire around," said Avraam Pasipoularidis, mayor of the northern suburb of Drossia. "Everything around me is burning."
Authorities evacuated two large children's hospitals, as well as campsites and homes in villages and outlying suburbs threatened by blazes that scattered ash across Athens. The flames also approached a large monastery on Mt. Penteli.
Many feared heavy afternoon traffic as Athens residents returned from their summer holidays, but people heeded calls to postpone their return to allow firefighters room to moved around.
Elsewhere in Greece, serious fires were reported on the islands of Evia and Skyros in the Aegean Sea and Zakynthos in the west. Another large fire that started Saturday in the town of Plataea, 40 miles northwest of Athens, was spreading unchecked in western Attica.
AP