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Greek firefighters battle to contain bush fire near Athens (Roundup)
Jun 15, 2009, 17:06 GMT
Eds: new fires, update
Athens (dpa) - Greek firefighters and residents battled side by side Monday to contain three major bush fires that were quickly spreading to residental areas across Athens, killing animals and burning through forest and olive groves.
Gale force winds were hampering efforts by ten planes, two helicopters and 35 fire trucks to put out the flames in the seaside suburb of Ano Glyfada and Voula near Mount Ymittos.
The fire reportedly destroyed hundreds of acres of forest and olives on Mount Ymittos.
'The fire is approaching many of the homes in the area,' said Glyfada Mayor Giannis Theodoropoulos.
Residents could be seen fleeing their homes in panic while others desperately attempted to extinguish flames along with hundreds of firefighters which were threatening the heavily-populated southern seaside areas of Ano Glyfada and Voula.
Thick black smoke covered the Greek capital Athens as a third fire broke out in the northern suburb of Marathonas, burning through hundreds of olive trees and killing dozens of animals.
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