Firefighters in Greece beat back large blaze outside Athens

By ELENA BECATOROS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of firefighters backed by more than 30 water-dropping planes are gaining ground against a large forest fire burning for the second day northwest of Athens that has led to the evacuation of a nursing home and several villages. The fire in the Vilia area, which is burning through a dense forest, began Monday shortly after another wildfire broke out to the southeast of the Greek capital in the Keratea area. The two were the most severe among dozens of wildfires to erupt that day, and together have consumed 12,000 acres. Hundreds of wildfires have burned across Greece this month, fueled by the country’s most severe heat wave in decades.