At least 49 die as dozens of fires ravage Greece

ZAHARO, Greece – Fires pushed by gale-force winds tore through more parched forests, swallowed villages and scorched the edges of Athens on Saturday, with ashes raining onto the Acropolis. At least 49 people died, and the government declared a nationwide state of emergency.

The worst infernos were concentrated in the mountains of southern Greece and on the island of Evia north of Athens, and early today, flames approached villages just outside Ancient Olympia.

Panicked residents and local officials called television stations to appeal for help, with many complaining there were too few firefighters.

“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 a desperate attempt to save their homes.

Dozens of charred bodies were found across fields, homes, along roads and in cars, including the remains of a mother hugging her four children.

New fronts emerged Saturday as dozens of fresh fires broke out – including some blamed on arson. Another blaze broke out in the area of Kalyvia, between the capital and the ancient site of Sounion to the south, and the flames flared again on two fronts early today, threatening houses.

Soldiers and military helicopters reinforced firefighting forces 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.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said arson was suspected in some of the blazes.

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

A 65-year-old man was arrested and charged with arson and multiple counts of homicide in a fire that killed six people in Areopolis, a town in the southern Peloponnese, said fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis. Separately, two youths were arrested on suspicion of arson in the northern city of Kavala, he said. Their parents will also face charges.