Wildfires force residents to flee Greek seaside villages

As Greek firefighters scramble to put out several fires that have broken out in hot, dry conditions, dramatic television footage showed desperate residents using water hoses to try extinguishing barren seaside resorts south of Athens as thick gray smoke billowed overhead.

Thousands of people fled their homes in villages south, west and north of the Greek capital Athens on Monday, and authorities evacuated dozens more from three children's camps and a retirement home. Disturbing footage also showed horses driven away from burning stables as other animals screamed in fear or pain. villages southeast of Athens, where an estimated 7,400 acres of forest land burned.

The water-dropping planes had resumed flight at first light after a night during which firefighters succeeded in partially containing three of the four large fires that had broken out south and west of Athens the previous day. A total of 20 planes were assisting the efforts of 250 firefighters to put out a large fire in Dervenohoria, about 30 miles north of Athens, Yiannis Artopios, a spokesman for the Greek fire brigade, said in a televised briefing. /p>

Evacuation orders have been issued for several other villages in the area, he said, describing the Dervenohoria fire as the most "dynamic" and the most disturbing.

The Greek army was helping firefighters and other rescue services, and the European Union was also helping. It sent four firefighting planes, the bloc's crisis management commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, said on Twitter.

ImageA firefighting helicopter near Agioi Theodori, Greece, Monday.Credit... Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press