EU’s largest wildfire in northeastern Greece burning for 12th day despite firefighting efforts

The European Union's largest wildfire since the bloc started keeping records more than two decades ago showed no signs of abating Wednesday in northeastern Greece despite the efforts of a multinational firefighting force on the ground and a fleet of water-dropping aircraft.

Now in its 12th day, the blaze that began near the port city of Alexandroupoli on August 19 joined with smaller fires to form an inferno that has decimated homes and vast tracts of land near the border with Turkey. The blaze led to the evacuations of thousands of people and was blamed for 20 of Greece's 21 fire-related deaths last week.

The 475 firefighters on the ground, backed by 11 planes and five helicopters, were trying to tame the flames now concentrated deep in the forest of the Dadia National Park.

With around 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of land burned, according to the European...