Fire death toll at 49; Greece declares national emergency
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Fires pushed by gale-force winds tore through more parched forests, swallowed villages, and scorched the edges of Athens yesterday, with ashes raining onto the Acropolis. The death toll rose to at least 49 as the government declared a nationwide state of emergency.
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ATHENS, Aug. 24 -- Forest fires raced across southern Greece on Friday, sweeping into mountainous towns and villages and killing at least 17 people, two of them found locked in an embrace and others outside cars overtaken by the flames.
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European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso headed to Athens to &quot;show solidarity&quot; with Greeks traumatised by forest fires which have killed scores of people and surged once again on Friday.
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Power blackouts hit 13 locations in Athens and 95 fires were reported across Greece on Wednesday amid a heat wave that has killed dozens of people in southeast Europe over the past week.
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Firefighters hope to have full control of Greece's worst forest fires in memory within the next four days, the fire brigade said on Saturday.
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A massive cleanup, reconstruction and anti-flood effort was being launched Monday for fire-stricken parts of southern Greece as one fire front continued to burn while others abated, officials said.
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"The next few hours will be critical"  Forest fires whipped by gale-force winds killed at least 15 people in southern Greece Friday, including at least nine people trapped in their cars as the flames approached.Across the country, more than 150 fires were burning, and the government appealed to the European Union to 'send any help they can,' acting Interior Minister Spyros Flogaitis said after an emergency meeting of Greece's civil protection department.Hot, dry winds gusting to gale force prevented firefighting planes from taking off, leaving only ground forces to fight the flames in the southern Peloponnese, with occasional help from helicopters and residents using their garden hoses. A three-day heat wave, with temperatures up to 104 degrees, has left forests and scrubland parched on the peninsula linked to the Greek mainland by a narrow isthmus. Read more
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PLOUTOCHORI, Greece  - Greek firefighters gained the upper hand on Wednesday over widespread forest fires that have killed at least 63 people and left the government shaken by accusations of incompetence.
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Opposition MPs in Greece attack the government response to forest fires which have claimed at least 63 lives.
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All major blazes in Greece were under control Friday, and firefighters were working to extinguish smaller fires in the southern part of the country.
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KRESTENA, Greece  - Greece's conservative government faced mounting criticism of incompetence on Tuesday as villagers fled fierce forest fires that have killed 63 people.
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A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5 struck fire-ravaged southern Greece, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. via The Age
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Forest fires sweeping Greece  have killed 41 people in two days and more are feared dead with  some villages still trapped by flames on Saturday in what the  government has called a national tragedy.
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ZACHARO, Greece  - Forest fires sweeping Greece have killed 41 people in two days and more are feared dead with some villages still trapped by flames on Saturday in what the government has called a national tragedy.
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Greek firefighters backed by  EU teams battled raging forest blazes that have killed 63  people and opposition parties accused the government of  incompetence in handling the crisis.
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Forest fires whipped by gale-force winds killed at least 12 people on Friday in the mountains of southern Greece, including six people trapped in their cars.
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KRESTENA, Greece  - Desperate Greek villages encircled by flames appealed for help on Monday as strong winds continued to fan forest fires sweeping through the country, killing 63 people in three days.