Portugal Colonial - Firefighters battle to contain deadly Crete blaze in Greece

The fire south of the city of Rethymno, in the island's southwest, had forced officials to evacuate some 8,000 people overnight as it threatened the village resort of Agia Galini.

Although the situation was improving Thursday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned of "difficult days" ahead as the summer heat persists.

Yiannis Tatarakis, mayor of the main outlying village of Agios Vassilios, said the Agia Galini resorts had reopened and visitors had been allowed to return.

Agia Galini hotelier Michalis Christoforakis, told AFP that holidaymakers were returning to their hotels and lodgings, with the vital tourism season in full swing.

"Some people were worried" during the evacuations, he said in a phone interview, "but there was no panic".

The National Observatory's weather website meteo.gr said wind shears in the Rethymno area had been recorded at up to 120 kilometres per hour, creating a fire front of over 12 kilometres (7.5 miles)

"We evacuated (some) 8,000 people" from the resort village of Agia Galini, Maria Lioni, deputy governor of the Rethymno area, told state TV ERT earlier.

The evacuations were decided as the fire, which broke out Wednesday, got to within a kilometre of the village before changing direction in the evening.

The fire is believed to have burned down homes, agricultural facilities and farm animals, but the toll is unclear as the fire is ongoing, Lioni said.

Two firefighters were trapped on a mountain road near the village of Krya Vrysi and died as the winds kept changing direction.

- 'A dark day' -

"It was a dark day," Lioni said.

A third firefighter collapsed and died during efforts to put out a separate fire near Gytheio in the Peloponnese peninsula.

The fire department dedicated a force of over 200 firefighters and 53 fire engines to the Crete blaze, but the violent wind had prevented aircraft from taking on seawater.

A coastguard spokesman told AFP there were four patrol boats at Agia Galini ready to help with additional evacuations, including one from EU border agency Frontex.

"But conditions are extremely difficult, there are (violent) wind shears," he said.

The prime minister paid tribute to the fallen firefighters, and warned that "difficult days" lay ahead.

"August... is traditionally a difficult month," Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting.

"I really want to ask all our fellow citizens to show the greatest care possible... we have many fires starting from gross negligence," he said.

Greece faces destructive wildfires almost every summer as prolonged drought, high temperatures and strong winds create ideal conditions for blazes to spread rapidly.

Nearly 100 firefighters were separately tackling a fire near the village of Plomari on the island of Lesbos.

The civil protection ministry placed several areas on near-maximum fire alert for Thursday, including Crete, the greater Athens area, the eastern Peloponnese and most of the Aegean islands.

G.Machado--PC