ATHENS, July 19 (Reuters) - Wildfires burned for a third day west of the Greek capital Athens on Wednesday, as authorities braced for a new heatwave stoking tinderbox conditions across the country.
At first light, air water bombers resumed operations over the towns of Mandra, west of Athens, and Loutraki, close to the Corinth canal which separates mainland Greece from the Peloponnese.
Firefighters worked throughout the night to keep flames at bay and away from a complex of coastal refineries.
Dozens of homes were gutted and hundreds forced to flee towering flames which seared through hamlets on Tuesday.
A year later, 101 people died in the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, after a wildfire razed the town in a matter of hours.
Persons:
Vassilis Varthakogiannis, Kostas Tsigas, Greece's, imploring, Andreas Theodosiadis, Michele Kambas, David Holmes
Organizations:
Firefighters, Traffic, Thomson
Locations:
ATHENS, Athens, Mandra, Corinth, Greece, Peloponnese, Italy, France, Rhodes, Dervenochoria, Mati