#WILDFIRE

Greece’s sprawling electricity distribution network is coming under scrutiny as investigators examine whether power lines played a role in some of the country’s recent destructive wildfires, raising broader questions about aging infrastructure, maintenance and staffing.

The findings are likely to renew debate over Greece's wildfire strategy as climate change intensifies the conditions that fuel increasingly severe blazes across southern Europe.

A faster rollout of underground power lines over the past decade could have reduced the risk of fires linked to faults in overhead electricity networks while also limiting the widespread power outages that often accompany wildfires and extreme weather.

The wildfire had burned for a second day after spreading rapidly through rural communities south of the city of Rethymno.

The firefighters, who died at the wildfires, are believed to have left the truck amid dense smoke, limited visibility and fast-moving flames.

A massive wildfire erupted Thursday afternoon in the coastal town of Rafina, just east of Athens, engulfing homes and threatening lives as it spread rapidly through the area.

A massive wildfire has engulfed the Greek island of Chios for a third straight day, unleashing widespread destruction and threatening the island’s famed medieval mastic villages, known as the Mastihohoria.

Greece is witnessing a troubling transformation in its wildfire patterns.