Sawt Falasteen - Greece asks for EU help in battling wildfires

Winds were fanning fearsome blazes near Athens and other parts, including the Peloponnese peninsula that juts out west from the capital, and on the islands of Crete, Euboea and Kythera, fire brigade spokesman Vathrakogiannis said.

"The hard part is ahead of us," he warned in a briefing to reporters.

Several regions were under the highest level of alert -- Red Category 5 -- meaning an extreme risk of wildfires, due to the hot and dry conditions.

In various regions, "in the last 24 hours alone, 52 fires erupted, of which 44 were immediately dealt with at the initial stage," the brigade spokesman said.

Vathrakogiannis said Greece had requested European assistance through the RescEU mechanism, asking for six firefighting aircraft to bolster efforts to contain the fires.

Firefighting units from the Czech Republic were already operating as part of European assistance, local media reports said.

According to firefighters, one of the most difficult fronts was just 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Athens, where authorities had ordered the evacuation of a village, Drosopigi.

Several houses in Drosopigi were ablaze, with stiff winds were pushing flames through properties.

One fire front had reached another village farther north, Kryoneri, where houses were also burning, a municipal adviser, Giannis Moniakis, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

He warned the situation was difficult and unpredictable, with fiery bursts occurring from strong wind gusts.

Police said they had evacuated at least 27 people from their houses.

One wildfire on the island of Kythera trapped dozens of people on a beach who had to be rescued by a coastguard vessel and three private boats.

- 'Out of control' -

The heatwave, which started in Greece on July 21, was expected to last until Monday, the country's weather service said.

The National Observatory in Athens said the warmest temperature recorded Friday was 45.8C in the Peloponnese region of Messinia. On Saturday, the temperature reached 45.2C in Amfilohia, in western Greece.

On the island of Euboea, also called Evia, northeast of Athens, two fire trucks were destroyed and two firemen taken to hospital with light injuries.

"The situation is out of control. The destruction is immeasurable," a district mayor in the town of Chalcis on the island, Giorgos Psathas, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

He said several pig farms on the town's outskirts "have already been engulfed by the flames".

In the Peloponnese's Messinia region, evacuations were also under way, as the fire front is deemed really dangerous.

Q.Jaber--SF-PST