Hundreds of tourists were evacuated from hotels and residents from their homes as a forest fire burned out of control Thursday on the northern Aegean island of Skiathos, DPA QUOTED the Athens News Agency (ANA) as saying. The fire, which reports said started from a refuse dump near the area of Zormbas in the morning, was being fanned by high temperatures and strong winds. Residents from the area of Agia Pareskevi were evacuated as well as hundreds of tourists from two large hotels near the town of Troulou. More than thirty fire-fighters were at the scene trying to battle the blaze along with seven fire-trucks, four airplanes and one helicopter. Island officials have requested that reinforcements be sent as soon as possible from Athens to help tackle the forest fire. Greece has been the scene of a number of forest fires over the past month due to dry conditions, strong winds and record-breaking high temperatures. On Wednesday, three firefighters died and another was seriously injured while fighting a forest fire on the southern Mediterranean island of Crete.
