Greek president: 'Fires are a national catastrophe'

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.

The country’s worst fires in living memory have killed at least 64 people since they began five days ago, ravaging olive groves, forest and orchards and incinerating homes, wild animals and livestock. Southern Greece, where the flames reached the birthplace of the Olympic Games in Ancient Olympia, was by far the worst affected.