Greek wildfires engulf mountain as they approach Greek capital

Thick grey smoke engulfed Mount Pentelicus that dominates Athens on Monday as the Greek capital battled the infernal fallout from what promises to be its hottest summer on record.

A 30-kilometre (20-mile) long line of fires, some with flames more than 25 metres (80 feet) high, was moving towards Athens, the ERT public broadcaster reported.

One has already engulfed the mountain that is known for producing the marble used in the Acropolis and other ancient buildings in Athens.

The nearby historic town of Marathon has also been ordered evacuated.

Brick homes on roads leading out of Marathon had huge black stains up the sides of their walls left by the flames. The roofs on many had also been burnt away.

At Dione, the fire burned cars and crept up apartment blocks. Some residents said they fled in their cars just as the flames sped up to their homes.

People in Penteli, an Athens suburb at the foot of the 1,109-meter (3,605-foot) high mountain, could only watch helplessly as fierce summer winds pushed flames toward their homes and up the slopes of Pentelicus.

Thick smoke from burning trees filled a small square in Penteli where local resident Mariana Papathanasi said they could only pray that their houses would be saved.

- Hospitals evacuated -

"There is still a strong fire. Some houses were burned after midnight and we are trying to protect our local restaurant," the 49-year-old supermarket employee told AFP.

A children's hospital and a military clinic in Penteli were evacuated at dawn as Greek authorities ordered thousands of people in Marathon and surrounding villages to flee.

"The firefighters are doing very well," said Papathanasi. "They are close to us, the local people, the whole time." At least five fire trucks and several firefighters, some in heavy-duty masks, worked nearby.

Farther up the mountain, on the road to nearby Nea Makri, tall flames devoured trees and shrubs, turning the ground black as grass and trees swayed wildly in the wind.

Christoforos, 53, a volunteer firefighter from Penteli, said the fires were moving fast and Nea Makri could become a major problem as two large fire fronts could meet there.

Greek authorities have thrown hundreds of firefighters with trucks and water carrying aircraft into what has become an annual battle as global temperatures soar.

After the warmest winter on record, Greece also experienced its hottest June and July since reliable data collection began in 1960, and the summer season has already seen many smaller blazes.

Temperatures around Athens were forecast to peak at 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, with wind gusts of up to 50 kilometres (31 miles) per hour.

Scientists say that human-induced fossil fuel emissions are worsening the length, frequency and intensity of heatwaves around the world.

Rising temperatures are leading to longer wildfire seasons and increasing the areas at risk, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.