Massive island forest fire in Greece burns for a 7th day

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighters and residents battled a massive forest fire on Greece’s second-largest island for a seventh day Monday, fighting to save what they can from flames that have ravaged pristine forests, destroyed homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing.

The smoke and ash from the fire on Evia, a rugged island of forests and coves almost touching the Greek mainland, blocked out the sun and turned the sky orange.

The fire, which began Aug. 3, is the most severe of dozens in the past week across Greece. The country has been baked by its worst heat wave in three decades, which sent temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) and turned pine forests into bone-dry tinderboxes.

With roads on the island cut off by the flames, residents and tourists fled to Evia's beaches and jetties to be ferried to safety by a flotilla of ferries and boats organized by the coast guard. Some had harsh words for the country's firefighting efforts.

“We were completely forsaken. There were no fire brigades, there were no vehicles, nothing!” David Angelou, who had been on Evia in the seaside village of Pefki, said Sunday night after leaving the island by ferry to the mainland.

“You could feel the enormous heat, there was also a lot of smoke. You could see the sun, a red ball, and then, nothing else around,” he said.

Other big wildfires have been burning forests and farmland in Greece's southern Peloponnese region, but a major blaze that encroached Athens' northern suburbs and the nearby Mount Parnitha national park was on the wane.

Over the past week, hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed or damaged, and at least 40,000 hectares (nearly 100,000 acres) have been burned. Power cuts on Monday affected at least 17,000 households.

The causes of...