Residents and firefighters worked side-by-side on Monday to put out a forest fire which threatened to engulf homes and one of the few remaining forests in Athens, according to dpa. Huge clouds of black smoke enveloped much of central Athens and traffic was backed up for kilometres as a major strip of highway on the outskirts of the Greek capital was forced to close. More than 100 firefighters, six planes, and three helicopters battled the blaze along the slope of Mount Imittos, located 5 kilometres from downtown Athens. Hundreds of residents, using shovels and buckets of water, could be seen working alongside firefighters to put out the blaze which came dangerously close to the residential area of Kaisairiani. Officials said the fire caused power outages and water shortages in the area. Dry weather conditions, high temperatures and strong winds have fuelled dozens of fires in the past month, destroying thousands of acres of forests and private homes.
