Flames devour forests and homes as wildfires that have left 20 dead in Greece burn out of control

By ELENA BECATOROS and COSTAS KANTOURIS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Advancing flames are devouring forests and homes in Greece as wildfires that have killed 20 people are raging. Blazes are also burning in neighboring Turkey and in Spain’s Canary Islands. Greece’s largest forest fire was burning out of control for the fifth day near the city of Alexandroupolis in the northeast. Another major blaze on the outskirts of Athens torched homes, reducing some to piles of smoking rubble, and encroached into the national park on Mount Parnitha, one of the last green areas near the Greek capital. A fire department spokesman says that on Wednesday, firefighters were tackling 99 blazes, including 55 that had broken out in the previous 24 hours.