Four fires hit Athens center, tip
A firefighting helicopter was mobilized yesterday afternoon to help extinguish a western Athens blaze, the fourth in the capital over the past two days. None of the fires caused any injuries. The extremely rare use of firefighting aircraft in inhabited areas came as firemen struggled to contain the fire to the wood-processing factory where it ignited on Iera Odos, in Aegaleo. After two water drops, the blaze was brought under control, having totally gutted the factory and destroyed a nearby kiosk. Traffic was brought to a standstill on the thoroughfare as flames from the burning building reached half-way across the other side of the road. Arson was suspected as the cause of the fire. Earlier, a block of flats in Patissia, central Athens, was badly damaged by a fire in a basement mini-market. Early on Sunday, the capital’s only rubbish dump caught fire. The Ano Liosia blaze was extinguished 10 hours later, but municipal authorities asked Athenians not to put out their trash yesterday. On Sunday afternoon, a fabric warehouse fire badly damaged the top floor of a central Athens office block.
