(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-26 09:12

Fires first broke out on Friday on the southern Peloponnese peninsula, scorching forests and olive groves, and soon spread to new fronts. Strong winds have hampered rescue efforts.

About 9,000 firefighters, helped by 500 soldiers, 1,800 fire engines, planes and helicopters were battling the fires and Greece called for help from its European Union partners.

At least 11 countries were sending firefighters, 14 planes and 11 helicopters to help fight the blazes. Most of them would be thrown into the effort at sunrise on Sunday, officials said.

Firefighters said there were about 100 forest fires around the country, though the Peloponnese was the worst hit region. Soaring temperatures, winds, drought and arson have been blamed for the unusual number of fires this summer.

"The situation across the country is extremely crucial and we should not expect signs of improvement at least through the night," fire brigade spokesman Nikos Diamantis told reporters.

Villages in most parts of the Peloponnese have been evacuated while others remain cut off. The fires stretch 160 km (100 miles) from the Ionian Sea in the west to Mani in the south and the Menalo mountain range in the heart of the peninsula.

"It looks like we'll have another night with fires raging unchecked," said Pantazis Chronopoulos, mayor of Zacharo, a hard-hit town once surrounded by a lush pine forest and picturesque villages on the west coast of the Peloponnese.

Karamanlis' conservative government has seen its popularity drop after criticism of its slow reaction to a spate of forest fires earlier this summer that killed 10 people.

On Saturday, he announced special financial relief measures for afflicted areas, while the socialist opposition PASOK party said it was offering 30 percent of its election campaign budget to the victims.

 

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