[MSN] Greece. Forest fires raged out of control in Greece for a fourth day, killing at least 63 people and scorching the grounds of Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic games.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Greek Fires Kill 63, Scorch Olympia; Seven Charged (Update4)
By Harry Papachristou


Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Forest fires raged out of control in Greece for a 
fourth day, killing at least 63 people and scorching the grounds of 
Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic games.

Seven people were charged with starting blazes deliberately or through 
negligence, Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Stamoulis said today in a 
televised news conference. They are among 32 suspects arrested since the 
fires began Aug. 24. The government offered rewards of up to 1 million 
euros ($1.4 million) for information leading to arsonists.

The worst affected area is the southern Peloponnese peninsula, where 23 
villages were evacuated, Fire Service spokesman Spyros Kapsilis said 
today in a phone interview. ``Despite the orders, many people just 
refuse to leave their property,'' he said.

Countries from Iceland to Israel provided fire-fighting planes as heat 
and strong winds contributed to the spread of about 250 blazes across 
Greece, the deadliest in the country's history. The casualties include 
about 60 injured people who were hospitalized, the Health Ministry said 
today.

``It's devastating,'' Evgenios Balkamos, an official in Ilia, a western 
region of the Peloponnese that is home to Olympia, said today in a phone 
interview. ``We won't recover from this for years.'' At least 40 people 
died in Ilia, thousands fled and 1,000 buildings were damaged, he said.

Army Mobilized

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis mobilized the army to battle the flames 
after declaring a state of emergency that allows the government to 
requisition private property and labor. Karamanlis, who faces an 
election on Sept. 16, urged citizens to assist firefighters, calling the 
blazes ``an indescribable national tragedy.''

Greenpeace Greece estimated 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of the 
country's forests and vegetation have been wiped out in this summer's 
fires. The hot, dry conditions have encouraged arsonists who set fires 
to clear land for building homes or grazing their flocks, Nikos 
Haralambidis, director of the environmental campaign group, said today 
in a phone interview.

``The government shouldn't take arsonists as an excuse,'' Haralambidis 
said. ``There was no proper coordination to extinguish the flames.''

Flames trapped people who tried to flee in their cars, save their homes 
and crops or rescue others.

``Many people were surprised, panicked or refused to leave their 
homes,'' Fire Service spokesman Nikolaos Diamantis said yesterday at a 
televised news conference.

Water-dumping Planes

International assistance was arriving, doubling the number of Greek 
aircraft involved in the effort, according to the Fire Service. A total 
of 15 water-dumping planes and 18 helicopters are sent or have been 
pledged by countries including France, Norway, Germany, Serbia, Israel, 
Iceland and Turkey.

It's ``the biggest offer of assistance to any member state'' under the 
European Union's civil protection mechanism since 2001, the bloc said in 
an e-mailed statement. About 1,200 soldiers have been deployed to help 
put out the flames.

``I sincerely hope that the situation will soon be controlled and no 
other lives will be lost,'' European Commission President Jose Manuel 
Barroso said today in an e-mailed statement.

Most of the fires are in the southern Peloponnese peninsula. Fanned by 
winds, the blazes consumed about 18,000 acres of forest, olive groves 
and brush land in less than nine hours on Aug. 24, according to the Fire 
Service.

Monuments Unharmed

The flames in Ilia swept through the Olympia archeological site, 
scorching trees and hills at the ancient Olympic stadium while leaving 
the ruins and monuments unharmed, Greek Culture Minister George 
Voulgarakis said on the Ministry's Web site.

The adjacent museum, which houses classical Greek antiquities from the 
5th century B.C., was evacuated and narrowly escaped the flames after a 
last-ditch effort by firefighters.

The deaths bring to at least 73 the number of people killed in summer 
wildfires in Greece this year. Record temperatures, as high as 46 
degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit), have parched the ground, 
making it easier for the fires to spread. Winds in southwestern Greece 
have only slightly eased from force 9 (as high as 54 miles per hour), a 
``strong gale'' on the Beaufort scale.

With the latest criminal cases, 15 people have been charged with arson 
in connection with this summer's fires and another 18 with causing 
blazes through negligence, Stamoulis said.

An Athens prosecutor ordered an urgent, preliminary investigation into 
the fires, the Public Order Ministry said today on its Web site. 
Greece's special police branch for violent crimes will target arsonists 
and consider whether their actions constitute terrorism, the ministry said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Harry Papachristou in Athens at 
hpapachristo at bloomberg.net <mailto:hpapachristo at bloomberg.net> .

/Last Updated: August 27, 2007 11:39 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com

/