News around the world

A seventh person died in a northern California wildfire Saturday, officials said, as a couple of other fast-growing wildfires in the state expanded by more than 25 percent overnight and continued to spread. More residents were ordered to evacuate their homes as weary firefighters endured high temperatures and gusting winds. The Carr fire, about 162 miles (261 km) north of Sacramento, claimed the life of a power company lineman Saturday, according to a CBS affiliate citing a spokesman for the PG&E Corporation. Neither a spokesman with the electric company nor fire officials were immediately available for comment. No other details about the death were made public. The Carr fire, one of the most destructive in California history, had already killed six people, including a great-grandmother and two children, and a firefighter and bulldozer operator. Two other blazes collectively called the Mendocino Complex burned in Mendocino, Lake and Colusa counties, about 90 miles n...

UPPER LAKE, Calif. — Days after wildfires left a deadly swatch of destruction in Northern California rural counties, new blazes exploded into life and threatened more homes in what has become an endless summer of flame in the Golden State. North of San Francisco, a fire threatened homes in an old ranching and farming area near Covelo. About 60 homes were ordered evacuated as the blaze erupted late Tuesday and winds whipped flames through brush, grass, oak, pine and fir near Mendocino National Forest, Mendocino County Undersheriff Matthew Kendall said. "We're advised that the fire was threatening structures," he said. The area was only about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of where twin fires in Mendocino and Lake counties have burned an area nearly three times the size of San Francisco, destroyed seven homes and threatened 12,000 more. The Lake County seat of Lakeport remained under evacuation orders and was a virtual ghost town, although people were allowed ...

MATI, Greece — Four days after the wildfire that raced down from the mountains, incinerating all before it, cars were once again tangled up in traffic jams in this seaside resort’s narrow streets. Search parties combed ruined homes for bodies; volunteers sought out injured and frightened pets. The nation was in mourning, shocked by the magnitude of the disaster, shaken by the stories of victims and the missing. In a V-shaped bend where on Monday desperate residents and visitors found themselves trapped, unable to escape the heat that melted even the metal of their cars, vehicles carrying survivors who had returned to salvage some possessions, volunteers, journalists and the simply curious edged carefully past one another as they sought a way out of Mati. The only reason they did not run the risk of being burned alive was that pretty much anything in the vicinity that could burn had already burned — pine trees, houses, people, pets and cars — even a wooden umbrella on a beach w...

ATHENS, Greece -- Greek authorities said Thursday there were serious indications that a deadly wildfire that gutted a vacation resort near Athens was started deliberately. Meanwhile experts have warned that the devastated coastal town had been built like a "fire trap," with poor safety standards and few escape routes. The death toll from Monday's blaze east of the Greek capital rose to 82 as rescuers and divers continued to search for bodies in burnt-out homes and at sea, where hundreds fled to try to escape the inferno. Public Order Minister Nikos Toskas said satellite image analysis of the deadly fire and a second blaze that broke out Monday on the other side of the city indicated both had been set in multiple places within a short time frame. "We have serious indications and significant findings of criminal activity concerning arson," Toskas said. "We are troubled by many factors, and there have been physical findings that are the subject of an ...

An  Irish  bride on her honeymoon has been injured in the  Greek  fire tragedy that has killed more than seventy people, and her new husband was still missing last night.

At least 74 people have been killed in wildfires raging close to Athens since Monday, a Greek fire brigade official said on Tuesday. At least 187 people, including 23 children, have been injured. The number of missing persons was still unclear. The number outpaces the death toll of 2007, one of the worst on record, where about 70 individuals died from fires in the southern Peloponnese region. [Reuters] source

At least 74 people have been killed in wildfires raging close to Athens since Monday, a Greek fire brigade official said on Tuesday.

Athens (CNN) At least 50 people have died in the worst wildfires to hit Greece in more than a decade, with some residents forced to flee into the sea to escape the advancing flames. Residents told of horrifying scenes as flames engulfed a seaside village, where the only way out for some was to run for the water.

Greece’s Red Cross organization said on Tuesday the bodies of around 26 victims of a devastating forest fire east of Athens had been discovered, substantially raising a death toll from an inferno which ravaged the area on Monday evening.

Forest fires raged uncontrolled in several places across Greece on Monday, destroying homes, disrupting major transport links and sending people fleeing for their lives.

A fire burning a pine forest in a mountainous area west of Athens has prompted nearby residents to flee their homes, as smoke from the blaze turned much of the sky over the Greek capital orange. The fire department said five water-dropping planes and two helicopters were battling the blaze Monday in the Geraneia mountains near the seaside settlement of Kineta between Athens and Corinth, along with 30 firetrucks and 70 firefighters. Footage from Greek TV station Skai showed the fire burning inside yards, with residents escaping in cars and on mopeds. High temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) have been predicted for Greece, and authorities have warned the risk of forest fires is high. source

A forest fire has been raging in the resort of Kineta in West Attica in a blaze front extending to six kilometers. Powerful wind of up to 7 and occasionally 8 Beaufort make the firefighters’ work almost impossible. The rough sea hinders aerial means from loading water from the sea.

A big fire broke out on the mountain slopes of Gerania, near the resort town of Kineta, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Athens.