Athens  - Firefighters battled to control a huge fire that was raging for the second day Wednesday on the Greek island of Evia, causing residents to flee and forcing the evacuation of tourists.

At dawn, five water-dropping planes, three helicopters, 55 trucks and more than 250 firefighters were attempting to extinguish the blaze that was raging out of control in a pine forest amid blinding smoke and wind.

The fire broke out in the northern part of the island on Tuesday and quickly spread east, fanned by the winds to an area more than 8 kilometers wide, burning thousands of hectares of forest and olive groves.

Approximately 450 French tourists and 150 staff were evacuated safely by sea from the luxury resort Mediterranee late in the evening Tuesday with the help of six vessels as flames approached dangerously close to the hotel, located in the northern part of the island.

The fire was reportedly spreading quickly from Lihara to the town of Loutra Gialtra, located 2 kilometers away, due to fierce winds, causing hundreds of residents to flee from their homes.

The fire started early Tuesday due to faulty electrical wires at the island's main power station. Firefighters had reportedly extinguished the flame, but it re-ignited in the late afternoon, fanned by the winds.

Forest fires have become more frequent in Greece in recent summers, triggered by high temperatures, drought and arson.

In late August, wildfires burned for days through suburbs north of the Greek capital Athens, destroying homes, tens of thousands of acres of forest and forcing thousands to flee in nighttime evacuations.

In 2007, forest fires in the Peloponnese and the island of Evia killed more than 85 people. (IANS)