Greece flies more firefighters to battle a blaze on Crete, and orders new evacuations

Greek authorities flew additional forces Thursday to the southern island of Crete, where 250 firefighters battled a wildfire that forced the evacuation of eight villages in mountainous areas.

The blaze tore through olive groves, farmland and scrub, damaging irrigation networks, but posed no immediate threat to the busy holiday resorts along the island's coast.

The fire service said 40 members of a specialist unit from Athens joined the operation in the island's central Rethymno area late Thursday, boosting the ground forces to nearly 300. A first team was sent in on Wednesday.

No injuries or severe damage to homes have been reported so far. Strong winds hampered firefighting efforts on the ground, assisted by a large fleet of 13 waterbombing aircraft and eight helicopters. Although the aircraft stopped flying after nightfall, firefighters were hoping to take...