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Greek officials and residents of a region west of the capital Athens on Wednesday started to estimate the damage suffered by homes, businesses and farmland scorched by a wildfire.
Teams from the Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection arrived to assess communities about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Athens, where residents have been returning after preventative evacuations, public broadcaster Ertnews reported.
The blaze burned more than 14,000 hectares in just five days, but "the situation in the region is much better," fire services spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakoyannis told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday.
"Firefighters remain on maximum alert to deal with areas where there is still smoke," he added.
According to an initial investigation by the fire service, the fire started on Friday with a spark on power cables operated by a private company in Agios Vasileios, a seaside village at the foot of a mountain 85 kilometres northwest of Athens.
Fanned by wind gusts of up to 130 kilometres per hour, the fire quickly spread towards the southern slopes of Mount Kithairon and reached Megara, an industrial and agricultural town 40 kilometres from Athens.
The smell of smoke was still present around the resort of Porto Germeno, a seaside resort where a large part of formerly forested land has been consumed by the flames, and dozens of houses have burnt down, AFP reporters observed.
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