Government's Response Draws Strong Criticism

Aug 28, 08:59 AM

Current Headlines: By ELENA BECATOROS

By Elena Becatoros

The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece

Firefighters rushed helicopters and buses Monday to evacuate more than two dozen villages threatened by towering walls of flames that had killed 63 people while ravaging swaths of forest and farmland in Greece's worst wildfire disaster in memory.

Four days of devastating blazes from the northern border with Albania to the southern island of Crete unnerved and angered Greeks, drawing strong criticism of the government's response and setting off widespread suspicions and finger-pointing.

The government, which declared a state of emergency, implied the destruction could be part of an orchestrated campaign of arson. But environmental experts expressed skepticism.

People used garden hoses, buckets, tin cans and branches in desperate - and sometimes futile - attempts to beat back flames and save their homes and livelihoods.

Frightened people called television stations pleading for help from the beleaguered fire service, and helicopters or vehicles were sent to several villages to evacuate threatened residents, although some insisted on staying to fight the flames.

A helicopter flew five people out of Prasidaki in southern Greece, fire department spokesman Yiannis Stamoulis said. Another was sent to the village of Frixa, but residents there refused to leave, he said.

The destruction and deaths infuriated Greeks, who already had been stunned by deadly forest fires in June and July, and the disaster appeared likely to dominate political debate before parliamentary elections Sept. 16. Many people said the government did not react quickly enough.

After declaring a state of emergency over the weekend, the government raised the possibility of arson and said several people had been arrested. A prosecutor on Monday ordered an investigation into whether arson attacks could come under Greece's anti-terrorism and organized crime laws.

In past fires, land developers have been blamed , allegedly using blazes to sidestep laws that ban construction on forest land. Greece has no land registry, so once a region has been burned, there is no definitive proof of whether it was forest, farm or meadow.

But it was not clear who, if anyone, was responsible for these fires.

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