BFF-79 Flames ravage Greek seaside as wildfires kill 74

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GREECE-EUROPE-FIRE,WRAP-UPDATE

Flames ravage Greek seaside as wildfires kill 74

ATHENS, July 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Raging wildfires killed 74 people
including small children in Greece, devouring homes and forests as terrified
residents fled to the sea to escape the flames, authorities said Tuesday.

Orange flames engulfed pine forests, turning them to ash and leaving lines
of charred cars in the smoke-filled streets of seaside towns near Athens
after the fires broke on Monday.

Rescuers rushed to evacuate residents and tourists stranded on beaches.

Others were overtaken by the flames in their homes, on foot or in their
cars. AFP photographers saw the burnt bodies of humans and dogs.

The charred bodies of 26 people, including small children, were discovered
in the courtyard of a villa at the seaside resort of Mati, 40 kilometres (25
miles) northeast of the capital, said rescuer Vassilis Andriopoulos.

They were huddled together in small groups, “perhaps families, friends or
strangers, entwined in a last attempt to protect themselves as they tried to
reach the sea”, he said.

“The problem is what is still hidden under the ashes,” said Vice President
of Emergency Services Miltiadis Mylonas.

The government said Wednesday that 308 engineers had arrived on site to
assess the damage.

Video footage showed people fleeing by car as the tourist-friendly Attica
region declared a state of emergency.

“I saw the fire move down the hill at around 6:00 pm and five or ten
minutes later it was in my garden,” said 60-year old Athanasia Oktapodi.

Her home is surround by dry pine trees.

“They caught fire. I ran out like a crazy person, got to the beach and put
my head in the water. Then the patrol boats came.”

– Death toll soars –

Fire service spokeswoman Stavroula Maliri raised the overall death toll on
Tuesday to 74 from an earlier count of 60.

She said the toll was not yet final since firefighters were still searching
for victims.

Winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour (60 mph) in Mati caused a
“sudden progression of fire” through the village, said Maliri.

“Mati no longer exists,” said the mayor of nearby Rafina, Evangelos
Bournous. He added that more than a thousand buildings and 300 cars had been
damaged.

According to Maliri, 82 people remained in hospital on Tuesday night
including 10 adults needing respiratory assistance and almost a dozen
children.

Officials said they were Greece’s deadliest blazes in more than a decade.

At least six people died trying to escape the flames into the sea. Some 715
people were evacuated by boats to Rafina, the government said.

“People are shocked, lost. Some of them have lost everything: children,
parents, homes,” said Red Cross spokeswoman Georgia Trisbioti.

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cut short a visit to Bosnia to
return home. He announced three days of national mourning.

Anticipating questions about the high death toll and the emergency
planning, Tsipras stressed the “extreme” scale of the fires.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said “15 fires had started
simultaneously on three different fronts in Athens” on Monday.

The European Union activated its Civil Protection Mechanism after Greece
sought help. Several countries said they were sending aircraft to help fight
the flames.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker tweeted Tuesday that the EU
“will spare no effort to help Greece and the Greek people”.

– 40-degree heat –

Tsipras said “all emergency forces” have been mobilised to battle the
fires.

Interior Minister Panos Skourletis said Tuesday the priority was to
extinguish a fire that was still burning in Kineta, 50 kilometers from
Athens.

Near the town of Marathon, residents fled to safety along the beach, while
600 children were evacuated from holiday camps in the area.

Officials raised the possibility the blazes could have been started
deliberately by criminals out to ransack abandoned homes.

“I am really concerned by the parallel outbreak of these fires,” Tsipras
said.

Supreme court prosecutors announced they had opened an investigation into
the causes of the fire.

Fires are a common problem in Greece during the summer. Blazes in 2007 on
the southern island of Evia claimed 77 lives.

Temperatures have climbed to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)
but showers and falling temperatures were expected later in Athens.

– Fires across Europe –

Wildfires have also caused widespread damage in northern Europe in recent
days.

Sweden is experiencing an unprecedented drought and the highest
temperatures in a century. It has counted more than 20 fires across the
country.

In Finland’s northernmost Lapland province fires have ravaged woods and
grassland close to the border with Russia.

Norway, which experienced its hottest May temperatures on record, has also
seen several small fires. One firefighter was killed on July 15 trying to
contain a blaze.

Fires have raged for five days in Latvia, destroying more than 1,000
hectares in the Baltic state’s western regions.

The German Meteorological Service DWD warned of a significant risk of fires
in fields and forests due to drought.

In the Netherlands, a wildfire broke out over about four hectares Tuesday
in the central nature reserve of Hoge Velume, known for its red deer and wild
boar, Dutch media said.

The fire brigade brought the blaze quickly under control.

BSS/AFP/MRI/2324 hrs