Nearly 300 firefighters, volunteers and soldiers are striving to contain large forest fires on the northern Greek island of Thassos, which has damaged homes and forced the evacuation of a village. The fire department says the blazes are believed to have been started by lightning strikes during a heavy storm, and broke out at four different spots across the island late Friday. Crews on the ground were assisted Sunday by 15 water-dropping planes and helicopters, and dozens of fire trucks. The fire department said at least eight houses were damaged in the central, mountain village of Kazaviti, which was evacuated. A state of emergency has been declared on the island.

Source: Fox News September 11, 2016 14:03 UTC