PSATHA, Greece, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Greek firefighters battled a wildfire northwest of Athens for a fourth day on Monday after strong and erratic winds helped it devastate homes, pine forests and thousands of hectares of farmland, forcing emergency evacuations by land and sea.
Two crew on a firefighting helicopter crashed and died on Sunday near the seaside community of Psatha, about 40 km (25 miles) from Athens, after a mid-air brush with a second helicopter, whose two crew survived.
More than 400 firefighters and 21 aircraft were deployed near the communities of Kandili and Agia Skepi on Monday as plumes of thick black smoke and red flames engulfed lush pine forests. Heavy machinery was being used to carve fire breaks to prevent the wildfire reaching homes, a Greek fire brigade official said. Europe has been ravaged by wildfires this summer after a period of record-breaking heatwaves and little rain — conditions that scientists say have been exacerbated by a fast-changing climate. France and Spain have been particularly hard hit, although huge blazes there abated over the weekend, providing some respite.
FAULTY POWER LINES
Greece's fire season had been relatively mild by local standards. Then, last week, three firefighters were killed in two separate incidents in Crete and on the Peloponnese on July 29.
Authorities are trying to ascertain the cause of the mid-air helicopter crash, which occurred at low altitude.
"The only thing we can say at this stage is that the formation of the two helicopters was not appropriate," said Faidon Karaiosifidis, an aviation accident investigator. "Their vertical and horizontal separation, as well as the descent rate, were inadequate."
The area near Psatha has experienced wildfires before. Locals have complained that, while vegetation has been cleared around houses, more needs to be done to build and maintain fire breaks in the forests.
Deputy Climate Crisis Minister Kostas Katsafados told public broadcaster ERT that strong and erratic winds over the past few days had prevented water bombers drawing up seawater, leaving ground forces battling the blazes on their own.
Days of operations have overstretched a thinly-staffed and ageing fire service, the legacy of a hiring freeze during Greece's 2009-2018 debt crisis, said Nikos Lavranos, head of the Federation of Unions of Fire Service Employees.
"A firefighter who is useful to fellow citizens and society is a rested firefighter, not an exhausted one," he said.
Preliminary investigation suggests that a fire that broke out in the nearby area of Boeotia last week and travelled 25 km (15 miles) was caused by sparks from vibrating conductors on a private power line transmitting electricity from wind turbines, the fire brigade said.
An electrical engineer and a contractor have been arrested and are been investigated for arson.
Faulty power lines have been the leading cause of major wildfires in Greece in recent years, ahead of arson and negligence.
(Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas; writing by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Susan Fenton and Kevin Liffey)
