**Thousands of residents of Athens’ northern suburbs have spent the night away from their homes as wildfires continue to threaten the area.**At least six major blazes are reported to be still out of control, and strong winds are continuing to fan the flames.
As the fires raged for a third day, they burnt dozens of homes and large areas of forest near the Greek capital.
To the north, the town of Marathon, with important archaeological sites, was said to be encircled by fires.
More than 90 fires are thought to have started since Saturday and more than 37,000 acres of land have been burnt.
While no casualties have been reported, a regional Athens governor, Yiannis Sgouros, has called the fires an “ecological disaster”.
‘Begging for help’
AT THE SCENE
Malcolm Brabant, BBC News, Drafi, Athens In leafy suburbs like Drafi, barely a tree has been left standing. A once beautiful green valley has been turned into a giant ash bowl. But almost all the expensive houses somehow survived.
We had to leave our modest home just before dawn as fire raced up the hill, but the flames stopped at the back garden wall. Many residents have similar narrow escapes to recount.
But the biggest casualty has been the environment. The loss of so much foliage is going to have an enormous negative impact on air quality in Athens. The wooded hillsides on the outskirts of the capital acted as its lungs and air conditioning units, providing much needed oxygen and cooler air.Brabant flees home as fires rage
Almost the entire population of Agios Stefanos, 23km (14 miles) north-east of Athens, fled on Sunday by vehicle or on foot.
But others refused to leave, carrying out a desperate defence of their homes with garden hoses, buckets, and shovels, the BBC’s Dominic Hughes reports from Athens.
Overnight, the town of Marathon found itself threatened with flames reported to have raced down a hill, with ancient monuments and museums in danger.
Some residents have complained there is a shortage of fire crews, as they were spread thinly trying to tackle blazes that almost ring the Greek capital.
The mayor of Marathon, Spyros Zagaris, said he had been “begging the government to send over planes and helicopters” to no avail.
“There are only two fire engines here. Three houses are already on fire and we are just watching helplessly,” he told a Greek television channel.
‘Difficult fight’
Mayor Zagaris was among several local leaders who accused the government of having no plan to fight the fire.
But Finance Minister Yiannis Papathanassiou dismissed the claims.
“This is not the time for criticism under these tragic conditions,” he was quoted as saying by AP news agency. “We are fighting a difficult fight.”
Ground crews worked through the night to to create fire protection zones after planes and helicopters stopped flying as darkness fell.
At first light on Monday, water-dropping aircraft are resuming operations, assisted by aircraft from France, Italy and Cyprus.
Nearly 2,000 firefighters and soldiers are engaging the blaze on the ground, together with hundreds of volunteers.
Multiple fires have been burning across an area some 50km wide, fanned by strong and unpredictable winds.
Dozens of homes were burnt down and a state of emergency was declared in the Athens area, which was shrouded in smoke.
The fires began late on Friday in Grammatiko, near Marathon. They spread rapidly through forests, and by Sunday morning, were closing in on the Athens suburbs of Drafi, Pikermi and Pallini.
The fires are the worst since those in 2007 which killed about 70 people.
In July, dozens of fires burnt through thousands of hectares of land in other parts of Greece, Spain, France and Italy.
According to the conservation group Greenpeace, heat waves and drier conditions are leading to larger and more uncontrollable forest fires across the whole Mediterranean region.
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