5 missing in US forest fire; blazes torment Greece

LOS ANGELES: US authorities said on Saturday they were searching for five people missing as a huge wildfire raged in northern California, leaving two towns in cinders. The Dixie Fire, the largest active wildfire in the US, recently became the third largest in California history.

As of Saturday, it had destroyed 447,723 acres in four counties, up from the previous day’s 434,813 and surpassing the vast Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon. Dixie is now 21% contained, the CalFire website reported, adding that three firefighters had so far been injured fighting the blaze.

While the fire continued to grow, officials said on Saturday that cooler, calmer weather was giving firefighters a muchneeded break. Those conditions are expected to continue into Sunday.

“We expect the same fire behaviour as yesterday, which was fairly moderate,” Jake Cagle, a firefighter sections chief, said in a briefing.

Earlier, the Dixie Fire left the Gold Rush town of Greenville charred and in ruins, while also burning through the small town of Canyondam. The Plumas county sheriff’s office said it had received descriptions of five people considered missing in Greenville and was searching for them.

Greek firefighters battle massive forest fires

PEFKI, GREECE: Hundreds of firefighters in Greece, backed by planes, helicopters and reinforcements from other countries, battled massive wildfires that continued burning on Sunday, fuelled by bone-dry conditions after the country’s worst heat wave in decades.

Authorities dedicated the most resources to tackling four major blazes: one, on Greece’s second-largest island of Evia, that has burned for five days, cutting across the island from coast to coast and isolating its northern part; and three in the southern Peloponnese region.