ATHENS (Reuters) - Aircraft and firefighters on the ground fought a blaze that burned large tracts of pristine pine forest on the Greek island of Evia on Wednesday as the wildfire flared up again at different spots.
A state of emergency has been declared in regions of the densely forested island east of Athens, after the blaze broke out on Tuesday, fanned by strong winds and high temperatures.
The wildfire had prompted the evacuation of villages and spurred an appeal for help from elsewhere in Europe.
Italy sent two aircraft after an appeal for airborne firefighting equipment from Greek authorities. Although conditions had improved by Wednesday morning, new blazes continued to challenge firefighting efforts.
Water dumping by specially equipped aircraft started at first light. "It is a difficult fire, that's the reality ... there is no danger to human life and that is what is important," Kostas Bakoyannis, the regional governor for central Greece, told Skai TV.
Fire officials said four villages and hundreds of people were evacuated as a precaution on Tuesday and one firefighter was hospitalized after suffering burns.
"The situation in Evia was very difficult and remains difficult," Christos Stylianides, the European Union's aid commissioner, said after meeting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Drawing upon his experience from other forest fires around Europe, Stylianides said he was impressed at the coordination shown among authorities dealing with the emergency, calling firefighters heroes.
"We managed to protect lives and to save people's property," Civil Protection Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis said.
Greece has bitter memories of a horrific blaze that tore through the seaside town of Mati near Athens in July 2018, killing 102 people in a matter of hours. Authorities were accused then of poor coordination and a slow response.
Mitsotakis, a conservative elected last month, interrupted his holiday on Crete to return to Athens where he was briefed on the situation.
Television images showed flames and plumes of black smoke on mountainsides carpeted in pine. State television said about 28,000 hectares of pine forest was turned to ashes. The smoke was also captured by Copernicus EU satellite imagery.
Copernicus, the European Union's eyes on earth with two Sentinel-3 satellites in orbit, said it had activated its emergency management service to assist in tracking the wildfire.
Greece often faces wildfires during its dry summer months, and authorities have warned of the high risk of blazes this week. Environmental campaigners see an increasing number of wildfires around the world as a symptom of climate change.
(Reporting by Michele Kambas and George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Larry King and Stephen Powell)
