Greek firefighters have battled large fires in the south, on the outskirts of Athens and on an island near the capital as flames fed by strong winds forced the evacuation of villages and summer camps.

With a massive wildfire now contained after raging for two days near Athens, the Greek government was facing a different kind of firestorm today as media lambasted its response.

Exhausted Greek firefighters battled around the clock for the fourth day to try and contain massive blazes north of Athens today.

Dozens of wildfires broke out across Greece, torching olive groves, cutting off villages and sending residents fleeing as one of the largest blazes swept perilously close to the capital's northern suburbs.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso toured fire damaged areas in southern Greece by helicopter today, and promised aid to relieve areas where 64 people died and an estimated 190,000 hectares (469,000 acres) of forest and farmland were destroyed.

All major blazes in Greece were under control today, and firefighters were working to extinguish smaller fires in the southern part of the country.

Firefighters battled the country’s last major blaze in southern Greece today, after managing to bring under control hundreds of others that for one week ravaged large parts of the country and killed at least 64 people.

Greece’s fire department said all major blazes were “generally receding,” but authorities remained on high alert for possible rekindling of the massive fires that have killed at least 64 people before a new heat wave forecast for the weekend.

Greece’s president today described the fires ravaging his country’s forests as a national catastrophe, as thousands of firefighters – hundreds of them brought in from other countries – fought to control blazes that have burned nearly 500,000 acres.

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck fire-ravaged southern Greece today, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said.

Foreign firefighters and aircraft joined the battle today against blazes in southern Greece that have killed 64 people.

Firefighters scrambled a helicopter to rescue people trapped by flames in a southern Greek village today, while dozens of fires burned out of control after killing 63 people.

A fire broke out on the fringes of Athens today, burning down a slope of Mount Ymittos and bearing down on a suburb of the Greek capital as wildfires which have killed at least 61 people ravaged vast areas of the country.

A top prosecutor ordered an investigation today into whether this summer’s arson attacks in Greek forests could be considered terrorism, the Public Order Ministry said.

Firefighters backed by aircraft prevented the birthplace of the ancient Olympics from being consumed by flames as Greece’s worst wildfires in memory blazed across the country and the death toll climbed to 60.

Fires tore through parched forests and swallowed villages across Greece, bearing down on communities near Ancient Olympia in the south today. At least 49 people were dead.

Forest fires that have claimed at least 40 lives raged uncontrolled across vast areas of southern Greece today as a new blaze threatened buildings on the fringes of Athens.

The death toll from forest fires that have raged uncontrolled across vast swathes of southern Greece rose to 37 people, the fire department said today.

A forest fire at a Greek holiday resort which led to the evacuation of hundreds of tourists is being brought under control.

Hundreds of tourists and residents have been evacuated as a forest fire swept through resorts in northern Greece, destroying homes and cars.