Fires in Greece mostly contained; authorities focus on relief effort

~ A new heat wave is forecast for week's end.

ATHENS, Greece -- Winds relented throughout fire-ravaged Greece, enabling thousands of firefighters Wednesday to tame a rash of fires that killed at least 64 people and obliterated huge swaths of fields and forests over six days.

The fire department said all major blazes were receding, but authorities remained on high alert ahead of a new heat wave forecast for week's end.

In the southern Peloponnese peninsula, where 57 of the deaths were recorded, the fronts were contained and firefighters -- backed by more than 20 water-dropping aircraft -- were moving in to extinguish lingering blazes.

"The fires are no longer spreading," fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said. "We had a drop in the wind, which we exploited." Temperatures also dipped to about 82 degrees in the region, compared to nearly 106 degrees when the fires erupted last week.

But late Wednesday, authorities evacuated five villages near the mountain town of Karytaina in the central Peloponnese after winds rekindled a blaze. The fire department said Karytaina, site of a medieval castle, was not in immediate danger.

At least two major fires still burned out of control near the Albanian border to the northwest, while on the hard-hit island of Evia north of Athens, where the other seven deaths occurred, all blazes were contained. Diamandis said no inhabited areas were threatened.

With most fires under control, the conservative government turned its attention to a vast relief effort -- less than three weeks before national elections.

"Our main task now is to relieve the pain, the stress and the agony that the victims of the forest fires ... are feeling," deputy government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said.

The inferno destroyed hundreds of homes in dozens of villages, obliterated fragile mountain ecosystems -- which will require decades to revive -- displaced thousands of people and threatened an entire rural way of life. The blazes also spread to Ancient Olympia, the 2,800-year-old World Heritage site that is the birthplace of the Olympic Games.

The fire department, which has received aid from 19 countries, has not announced an overall damage assessment. But independent estimates say around 495,000 acres of forest, olive groves and scrub were consumed -- the worst fire destruction in Greece since official record keeping began in the 1950s.

"These fires are worse than in any previous year," said Gavriil Xanthopoulos, a researcher at Greece's National Agricultural Research Foundation.

There were no estimates so far on the cost to the economy.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that in response to a request for assistance from the Greek government, USAID has provided an initial $100,000 for firefighting equipment and humanitarian assistance.

Arson has been widely blamed for the fires, and six people have been charged with setting fires. Arson suspects are rarely convicted, however.

Up to 469,000 acres were laid waste between Friday and Tuesday -- 10 times the annual average for the past 50 years, according to the European Commission's European Forest Fire Information System. A total 679,000 acres -- an area almost the size of Rhode Island -- went up in smoke since the start of the year.

"There are still some fires burning but definitely the speed of increase of the fire front in the areas burnt is much, much smaller than in the first three days, which was very, very fast mainly due to the strong winds," European fire researcher Paulo Barbosa said. "The conditions are better and I think in the next few days the situation will be under control," he told the AP.

Apart from the blow to the Peloponnese's ecosystem, Greenpeace Greece director Nikos Haralambidis warned mountain populations could end up "environmental refugees."

"There will be several thousand people faced with the choice of staying in a burnt land or moving to the cities," he said. "Their main source of income was olive oil production ... and new olive saplings need at least 15 years to produce a decent crop."

A helpline set up for fire victims and offers of aid has received more than 40,000 calls, mostly from volunteers who want to contribute, Deputy Finance Minister Petros Doukas said.

In the southwestern city of Pyrgos, hundreds of people crowded into bank branches to take advantage of a government promise of aid to anyone who signs a piece of paper vouching that the fires had damaged or destroyed their property.

In nearby Ancient Olympia, 34-year-old Giorgos Bouzas, who owns a paper business, submitted his voucher and was waiting for his funds.

"Everything is closed now, the hotels and restaurants, while before, everyday they were full. Now we are alone, and we need 10 years at least to get back to where we were," he said.

The Finance Ministry said it was suspending value added tax payments for people and companies and outstanding taxes in afflicted areas for six months and banning seizures of property for outstanding debts.

Although the government has budgeted about $450 million for such aid, the Finance Ministry has said the cost was expected to be much higher.

The fires are dominating political debate. Criticism that the government failed to respond quickly enough could hurt Karamanlis.

In the main street of Ancient Olympia, a gift shop was draped Wednesday with banners reading "Shame on you" in four languages.