ATHENS (AFP) — The forest fires that have ravaged southern Greece for the past 11 days, killing dozens of people, were finally extinguished Monday, fire services said.
At least 64 people have been killed in the Peloponnese peninsula and other areas and 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of countryside have been destroyed since August 24.
"Land forces remain on the alert at the scene to prevent any new outbreak," a fire brigade statement said at the end of a day which saw the last blazes conquered near Sparta, in the southern Peloponnese, and on Mount Parnon.
The fire service had deployed five water-bombing planes and two helicopters to Mount Parnon, which is difficult to access.
Populated areas were not threatened, a fire service spokesman said.
Nearly 100 fires per day were occurring on average last week, amid widespread anger that the government did not intervene soon enough and at the scale required.
The opposition Socialists (PASOK) have roundly attacked the government's handling of the fires with elections set for September 16. Before the tragedy, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis had appeared set for an easy electoral win.
Karamanlis has blamed arson for at least some of the fires, saying action would be taken against those responsible.
The Greek economy ministry estimates the fires caused around 1.6 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) worth of damage. The European Commission has said the EU could pay up to 600 million euros in aid this year to help Greece recover.
Additional funds could be mobilised beyond the EU solidarity fund, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Saturday after flying over the affected areas.
The Greek government has already opened its coffers to help people who have lost homes and property in the disaster, handing out around 130 million euros in compensation so far.
Foreign Minister Dora Bayokannis meanwhile on Monday urged fellow EU nations to relaunch a plan for a European civil protection force.
The minister, who met with European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, plans to discuss with her EU counterparts next month a force which "would have planes and trained personnel at its disposition in member states," said Greek spokesman Vassilis Karavassilis.
Athens sees a basis for such a force in a report by former French foreign minister Michel Barnier who last year put forward a dozen measures to improve the EU's capacity to handle international crises.
These included pooling existing resources between member states and the possibility of the EU centrally acquiring a cache of planes and vehicles donated by EU nations.
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