European firefighters and planes join battle against wildfires that have left 20 dead in Greece

By ELENA BECATOROS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Water-dropping planes from several European countries have joined hundreds of firefighters battling wildfires raging for days across Greece that have left 20 people dead, while major blazes are also burning in Spain’s Tenerife and in northwestern Turkey near the Greek border. Greece’s largest active forest fire is burning out of control for the fifth day near the city of Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece, while authorities are trying to prevent a blaze on the northwestern fringe of Athens from burning homes and entering the Parnitha national park, one of the last green areas near the Greek capital. With their hot, dry summers, southern European countries are particularly prone to wildfires.