HUNDREDS of firefighters and over 30 water-dropping planes were battling a major out-of-control forest fire on the northern fringes of the capital today as hospitals and residential suburbs were evacuated.

Fanned by strong winds, the blaze that began on Sunday afternoon was racing through pine forests left tinder-dry by repeated heat waves this summer, coming on the heels of a particularly dry winter. June and July of this year were the hottest months ever recorded in Greece, which also recorded its warmest winter ever.

By mid-morning, the fire was burning mainly on two separate fronts, partly in a remote mountainous region north-east of Athens, Climate Crisis and civil protection minister Vassilis Kikilias said.