A wildfire near Greece’s capital darkens the skies over Athens and advances fast

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A wildfire burned northeast of Athens, darkening the sky as the smell of smoke and soot pervaded the Greek capital. More than 400 firefighters, 110 fire engines and a large number of volunteers were fighting the fire, which broke out around 3 p.m. local time around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Athens. The 15 firefighting planes and nine helicopters were operating by late afternoon Sunday but stopped at sunset. The flames were moving fast toward Lake Marathon, an important reservoir supplying Athens with water. That’s according to Fire Col. Vassileios Vathrakogiannis, a spokesman for the fire department. An unknown number of houses have been damaged.