Greek fires race toward ancient sites By JOHN F.L. ROSS, Associated Press Writers

Greek fires race toward ancient sites By JOHN F.L. ROSS, Associated Press Writers
21 minutes ago



AMALIADA, Greece - The fires consuming southern Greece raced toward Ancient Olympia and the nearby Temple of Apollo on Sunday, engulfing entire villages and the parched forests blocking their path toward some of the most revered sites of antiquity.

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At least 51 people were confirmed dead, including a woman found with her arms around the bodies of her four children, and more were feared lost in the country's worst wildfires in decades.

Church bells rang out in the village of Kolyri, near Ancient Olympia, as residents gathered their belongings and fled through the night. Villagers returned to find at least seven gutted houses.

"It's hell everywhere," said Costas Ladas, who said the fire covered more than a mile in three minutes. "I've never seen anything like it."

Fotis Hadzopoulos, another resident, said the evacuation was chaotic. "Children were crying, and their mothers were trying to comfort them, " he said.

The worst fires — 42 major fronts — were concentrated in the mountains of the Peloponnese in southern Greece and on the island of Evia north of Athens. Arson has been blamed in several cases, and seven people have been detained.

The flames surrounded and isolated villages, prompting inhabitants to plead for help on television and radio as the fires neared towns near Ancient Olympia in the south.

"We're going to burn alive here," one woman told Greek television from the village of Lambeti. She said residents were using garden hoses in an attempt to save their homes.

Efforts to contain the inferno were initially helped by a drop in the gale-force winds that swept fires through thousands of acres of forest and scrub since Friday, the fire department said. But the winds revived early in the afternoon

"Fires are burning in more than half the country," department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said. "This is definitely an unprecedented disaster for Greece."

The government, which has come under harsh criticism for its response to the fires, on Sunday decided to give up to $13,000 in aid to people who lost relatives or property.

"All these areas have suffered an economic and social catastrophe," Economy Minister George Alogoskoufis said. "We can all sense the grief and pain of afflicted people."

Firefighters began to reach burned-out villages and there were fears the death toll would rise. Diamandis said it was impossible as yet to estimate how large an area had been burned and how many homes had been destroyed.

Winds abruptly intensified early Sunday afternoon, whipping flames in the direction of Ancient Olympia — where the Olympic Games were held in antiquity.

The fire blazed into the nearby village of Varvasaina, destroying several houses. As residents rushed to battle the flames, others, stunned, walked the streets holding their heads in their hands. One man dashed out of his house clutching a shotgun.

Dozens of charred bodies were found across fields, homes, along roads and in cars. The fire department confirmed 51 deaths, and there were fears the toll could increase as rescuers searched burned areas.

Flames were also approaching the ancient temple of Apollo Epikourios, near the picturesque town of Andritsaina in the southwestern Peloponnese.

Andritsaina Mayor Tryphon Athanassopoulos said the fire was less than two miles from the 2,500-year-old monument — and less than a mile from his town.

"We are trying to save the Temple of Apollo, as well as Andritsaina itself," he told state NET television.

Much of the Peloponnese was ablaze, and churches across the country were filled with people praying for the fires to relent.

Nearly 1,000 soldiers and military helicopters reinforced firefighters stretched to the limit by Greece's worst summer of wildfires. In the most ravaged area — a string of mountain villages in southern Greece — rescue crews picked through a grim aftermath that spoke of last-minute desperation as the fires closed in.

By sea and by land, authorities evacuated hundreds of people trapped by the flames.

At least 12 countries were sending reinforcements for Greece's overstretched firefighters, and six water-dropping planes from France and Italy were due to start operations later Sunday.

"So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said in a nationally televised address. "The state will do everything it can to find those responsible and punish them."

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Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.