Firefighters, seven planes to put out wildfires in Greece

ATHENS: Water-dropping planes from several European countries joined hundreds of firefighters on Wednesday battling wildfires raging for days across Greece that left 20 people dead, while major blazes also burned in Spain’s Tenerife and in northwestern Turkey near the Greek border.

Greece’s largest active forest fire was burning out of control for the fifth day near the city of Alexandroupolis. Over the last three days, 209 wildfires have broken out across Greece, spokesman, Loannis Artopios, said.

The blazes, fanned by gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions, evacuated dozens of villages and the main hospital in Alexandroupolis. More than 200 firefighters backed by volunteers, military and police forces, eight helicopters and seven planes, including two from Germany and two from Sweden, were battling the blaze.