Olympic Flames

Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP / Getty Images

Fires burn on the mountains over Olympia, Greece, August 26, 2007

Fierce wildfires have blazed across Greece for the past week, torching villages and killing 63 people amid the country's worst such disaster in decades. Hot winds have spread infernos from the southern Peloponnese to the isle of Evia north of Athens. Even at ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games, flames scorched the earth around the sacred site's museum.

With the nation's firefighters struggling to tame the blazes, nearby countries — from Israel to Italy — delivered manpower and equipment to help the effort. Locals fought back, too: one man doused the flames that licked his...

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