APTOPIX Greece wildfire
The town of Nea Makri, northeast of Athens, is seen below charred hills, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Authorities said all fires north of Athens were...
The town of Nea Makri, northeast of Athens, is seen below charred hills, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Authorities said all fires north of Athens were put out or confined to tiny areas Wednesday, after the blazes destroyed an estimated 60 homes and damaged 150 more. (AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)
Greece Fires
A charred forest is seen at Rodopoli, north of Athens, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Authorities said all fires north of Athens were put out or confin...
A charred forest is seen at Rodopoli, north of Athens, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Authorities said all fires north of Athens were put out or confined to tiny areas Wednesday, after the blazes destroyed an estimated 60 homes and damaged 150 more. (AP Photo / Nikolas Giakoumidis)
A small firefighting plane has crashed in Greece and killed its pilot, in the first death reported during the country's latest wildfires.
The air force says the accident occurred around noon on Thursday on the western island of Kephalonia when the single-seat plane was fighting a small blaze near the village of Katelios.
The pilot's body was recovered shortly afterward.
For six days, massive fires ravaged forests and communities around Athens.
They were put out or contained to small areas on Wednesday after razing 80 square miles (210 square kilometers) of forest and hillside scrub _ an area more than three times the size of Manhattan.
It was the worst in a series of devastating wildfires in Greece this year.
