Greek villagers tell of their battles against the wildfires

Local residents and volunteers from the Greek village of Kamatriades say they have been using their own means to battle a wildfire for seven days, as they attempt to protect a forest which many rely on for their livelihoods. Greece has just experienced its worst heat wave since 1987, which has left its forests tinder-dry and seen massive fires break out across the country.

Some of the worst of those blazes have been experienced on the Greek island of Evia, where Kamatriades is located. In a forest on the mountain top on the outskirts of the village fires were still burning on Tuesday. Locals on the back of pick-up trucks drove up the mountain to battle the flames, many without proper firefighting tools.

Instead they used tree branches and water to put out the flames whilst others cut trees on the fire's path in order to stop the fire from spreading. One local Dimitris Stefanidakis said residents had received no help from firefighters for the past seven days. "We need some help here," he pleaded. "We are fighting alone."

Stefanidakis said most of the volunteers and locals relied on the forest for their jobs and livelihoods and the fires were causing "big damage" to their incomes. "There is no help from anyone, as you can see, neither firefighting vehicles nor aircraft, nothing," another resident Kostas Koulouriotis said.

Greece's massive wildfires were being largely tamed on Tuesday. The blazes destroyed tens of thousands of hectares (acres) of forest and hundreds of homes, killed a volunteer firefighter and forced more than 60,000 people to flee. Two other firefighters were in intensive care with severe burns.

The country's civil protection chief Nikos Hardalias defended the firefighting efforts, saying every resource was thrown into the battle against what he described as the fire service's biggest-ever challenge. Nearly 900 firefighters, 50 ground teams and more than 200 vehicles were fighting a blaze in the northern section of Evia that broke out August 3, the fire service said.

They included crews from Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Poland - part of a huge international response to Greece's plea for assistance. Fourteen helicopters provided air support Tuesday on Evia, including three from Serbia, two from Switzerland and two from Egypt.

The wildfire on Evia was burning in an area in which villages and forests are entwined. Hardalias said all the fire fronts on Evia were waning, but firefighters were guarding the perimeter of the blaze, particularly around a cluster of villages that were among the dozens evacuated on the island in recent days.

However, heavy smoke from the fires has often reduced visibility to zero, making it difficult and dangerous for water-dropping aircraft to assist ground forces. According to EU wildfire data and satellite imagery, more than 49,000 hectares (121,000 acres) have burned up on Evia - by far the worst damage from any of the recent fires in Greece. Several other wildfires were burning in the country, with the most significant in the southern Peloponnese region, where new evacuations were ordered Tuesday afternoon. A judicial investigation is under way into the causes of the fires, including any links to criminal activity. Several arson suspects have been arrested.