Athens suburbs burn as Greece calls on EU for help

PENTELI, Greece: A massive wildfire in Athens´ northeastern suburbs on Monday forced thousands of residents to flee their homes and sparked a Greek government appeal for international help.

In unprecedented scenes in the Greek capital, residents wearing masks against the choking smoke were desperately dousing their homes with water hoses in the leafy suburbs of Nea and Palaia Penteli and Vrilissia to protect them from fire.

“(It´s) the first time ever the fire has come here,” said Melina Kritseli, 40, a civil servant living in a two-storey white house in Patima Halandriou, another Athens suburb that was evacuated. “I took my children to a friend´s house to be safe,” she told AFP as her husband hosed the ground and grass outside their house.

Television footage showed several charred cars and the roofs of stately homes burning as water-bombing helicopters roared overhead. Smoke drifted through central Athens as thick grey clouds engulfed Mount Pentelikon, which is known for yielding the marble used in the Acropolis and other ancient buildings.

The fire gutted a sports hall in Nea Penteli and many homes and businesses in the surrounding area. The National Observatory, Greece´s foremost institute monitoring natural hazards, narrowly escaped. The Observatory website meteo.gr said 10,000 hectares had been devastated by midday Monday.