Fires Stoke Anger at Greek Government

Forest fires raged on the outskirts of Athens yesterday, causing power cuts across the capital and fears that this year could see a repeat of the devastating blazes that killed scores of Greeks last summer.

As water-dumping planes tried to extinguish the inferno, environmentalists said that the country still remained ill-prepared to deal with fires. "It is clear that the state machinery is not yet up to the task of handling such fires," said Achilleus Plitharas at the Greek branch of WWF.

Environmentalists say the increasing number of forest fires, exacerbated by rising Mediterranean temperatures and high winds, can be tamed only by the creation of a special unit within the fire brigade, improved training for volunteers and more funds for fire prevention. Government officials admit that few of these measures have been taken, with many privately conceding that they have been hindered by the lack of an environment ministry.

"It is obvious that most of these measures won't be enforced this summer," said a conservative MP, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who heads the parliament's environment committee.

Fanned by high winds and soaring temperatures, yesterday's flames destroyed vast tracts of Mount Hymettus, around the Glyka Nera area east of Athens, sending clouds of acrid smoke into the skies and damaging power lines.

MPs from the governing conservative party were greeted with jeers and raised fists when they rushed to the scene. "We've been appealing for days for authorities to come and clear woodland of combustible litter and nothing has happened," a resident, Christos Chronopoulos, told Alpha TV.

Many residents said it had taken hours for the rescue services to arrive.

Greece endured the worst fires on record last year with 65 people, mostly in the southern Peloponnese, dying and swaths of forest and farmland and many villages burnt down.