Greek Government Struggles With Wildfires

ATHENS—The Greek government has struggled dealing with reoccuring wildfires recently, the latest reaching the outskirts of Greece's capital Athens, devastating 75,000 acres of land. The fires are now under control.

Back in August 2007 fire fighters battled with the flames for one month, but couldn't prevent the deaths of 68 people. Soon after, laws were drawn to prevent similar disasters.

“If the catastrophe of 2007 was big, this time it's even worse because it's inside the walls. It wasn't allowed to happen again in Greece but yet it happened and it happened in the capital,” said Spiros Kouvelis, an expert on enviromental planning, according to the Greek station Mega television.

Watch NTDTV report on "Greek Government Under Fire."

The spokesman of the Greece fire brigade said they have done everything possible to reduce the impact of the catastrophe. Due to limited resources, Greece has also asked for help from other countries.
The total number of wildfires in Greece is now 192 in 2009 alone. Strong winds played an important role in spreading the fires.