The wildfires that scorched Greece and encroached on parts of Athens were reported to be under control by August 25 2009, leaving only the smouldering embers of criticism among some media, opposition and environmental groups that hit out at the government’s handling of the fires.
 
Greek daily Kathimerini said on August 25 that there was no official figure for the total area of forestland burned in the fires but estimates put it at between 17 000 and 22 000ha.
 
There were no serious injuries or deaths reported, unlike in the case of the forest fires of 2007 when the death toll exceeded 70. Initial estimates on August 24 said that 150 residences had been destroyed or damaged.
 
The BBC quoted the European Commission as estimating that about 21 000 hectares of pines, olive grove, brush and farmland had been destroyed.
 
Aircraft including fixed-wing planes and helicopters with water-bombing capabilities patrolled some areas while others were on standby. The EU lent fire-fighting assistance and countries including Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and France assisted.
 
Newspapers including Etnos and To Vima accused the government of having made mistakes that opened the way to an environmental disaster. There was no excuse for the incredible disaster in greater Athens, To Vima said.
 
The director of environmental group WWF Hellas said that "a complete overhaul" was needed in the way forest fires were tackled, the BBC said.
 
"There is no sign the government is moving in the right direction," said Dimitris Karavellas, warning that some of the land was so badly damaged it could not regenerate itself.
 
As speculation mounted yesterday about the cause of the fires, widely believed to be the work of land-grabbing arsonists, environmental experts said the impact of the blazes was the same regardless of the cause and would compromise the quality of life of Athenians for years to come. "We have lost a precious air filter," Karavellas said.
 
Kathimerini quoted government spokesperson Evangelos Antonaros as defending the authorities’ handling of the fires, insisting that the firefighting effort had been "well co-ordinated" and countering accusations of a delayed response.
 
"From the very first moment we had dispatched personnel on a large scale," he said. Antonaros also disputed local authorities’ claims of scores of homes being burned and thousands of residents being displaced, claiming that evacuations had been precautionary and "limited" and that most residents had subsequently returned to their homes.
  
Prime minister Costas Karamanlis thanked pilots who fought the fires and said they had "surpassed the limits of human endurance".
 
"Close your ears to those few who, from a safe position for their own expediencies attempt to criticise everything," he said.
 
As winds eased, a Greek fire brigade spokesman, Yiannis Kappakis, warned that there was still some risk. "The danger of the fires flaring up again is not yet over," Kappakis said, according to the BBC.