ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Two Greek firefighting helicopters collided in midair on Sunday as they were battling a wind-driven wildfire west of Athens, sending one aircraft crashing to the ground, footage showed.The four crew members were recovered, the Greek fire department said. Two were recovered safely while the other two were unconscious. No further details about their condition was immediately available.The collision laid bare the danger at the most volatile front of Europe’s wildfire emergency. Strong winds drove flames deeper into the region of the Greek capital and forced fresh evacuations, France guarded a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris, while Spain’s major fires stopped advancing.
The aircraft were Bell helicopters operating over the Psatha area west of Athens, each with a two-person crew. Two of those aboard were Greek and two were foreign nationals, but authorities did not identify their countries.Flames spread rapidly through western Attica, threatening communities and an industrial district outside Megara as violent gusts prevented firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea. The advance carried grim resonance in a region where the 2018 Mati wildfire killed 104 people, Europe’s deadliest blaze this century.Farther west, containment brought no end to the emergency. France’s largest wildfire remained held within its perimeter after forcing 224,000 people to flee in what may have been the country’s largest civilian evacuation outside wartime.Hot spots still burned within a 420-square-kilometer (162-square-mile) scar, thousands remained unable to return home, and nearly 3,000 firefighters were deployed against the Gironde megafire and a second, still-uncontained blaze in Provence.Together, fires in France and Spain have driven roughly a third of a million people from homes and vacation sites, emptied communities at the height of the European summer and stretched emergency services across simultaneous disasters.Record fire damage underscores Europe’s growing wildfire threat
