Greek firefighters battle two blazes near Athens

TWO large forest fires in Greece, the first of the summer season, were "partly contained" by firefighters last night.

The two fires, one northeast of Athens and one southeast of the city, spread quickly, aided by gale force winds up to 40 miles per hour.

By dusk, winds had dropped to about 20 miles per hour, but were expected to pick up again today.

The most serious of the two fires broke out around 1 pm local time yesterday in a mountain ravine near the coastal resort town of Kalamos, 28 miles northeast of Athens.

The fire spread southeast, in the direction of the town of Marathon and the nearby Marathon Lake, which serves as a major reservoir for the Greek capital.

It stopped well short of both, but threatened five villages along the way. Four of the villages were evacuated.

"The fire is now partly contained… It is still expanding in two ravines, one near Kalamos and the other (to the south), but has been contained on other fronts," said lieutenant-general Apostolos Gerokostas, deputy head of Greece's fire service Dozens of fire trucks, 12 planes and 4 helicopters fought the fire. The aircraft cannot operate at night.

A few houses in the area sustained minor damage. No casualties were reported.

"I saw only one building, a guesthouse, completely burned," Gerokostas said. Another fire had broken out earlier near the port of Lavrio, southeast of Athens, forcing authorities to evacuate a scout camp. Authorities said the fire was under control by sundow.

Forest fires regularly break out in Greece in the summer, aided by the combination of hot, dry weather and high winds.