"There are no more fires currently in Greece," a fire department spokesman told AFP late Tuesday.

But he added that firefighters remain mobilised "to respond to any possible resurgence of the fires" in the Athens region where damage to one of the area's last forests across a distance of 30 kilometres (17 miles) was deemed irreparable.

As the flames retreated, the government faced criticism for failing to prevent another ecological disaster exactly two years after the worst inferno in recent memory, which killed 77 people around the country.

Greek media disputed officials' claims that strong winds made a speedy containment of the wildfires impossible, noting that similar excuses had been put forward in 2007.

"There is no excuse for the incredible disaster in greater Athens," To Vima daily said, blasting the government for allegedly leaving Greece's firefighting forces 3,000 staff short of their nominal strength.

Ethnos daily poured scorn on an earlier statement by government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros that appeared to blame pine trees for the fire.

"Pine trees may be pretty but in a way they are an additional aggravating factor in the spread of fires," Antonaros had said Monday.

The disaster was a fresh blow to the embattled conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis which is already struggling under the weight of corruption scandals.

Karamanlis had called an early general election a month after the 2007 fires disaster, and he is again widely reported to be calculating when to hold another early election, having just a single-seat majority in parliament.

His administration teeters on the edge barely halfway through its four-year term.

"Two years on, we're having the same debate," said political analyst George Sefertzis. "This time round, there is no doubt that the government will reap the consequences for failing to heed the lessons of the past."

Late Tuesday the government announced a massive plan to compensate people whose properties were devastated by the blazes.

The government wants "to assure each victim a home, compensating for any damages and restoring the environment to its initial state," said spokesman Antonaros.

The Greek section of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was also scathing in its comments, noting that the country had once again run afoul of "a lack of preparation, poor coordination and inertia."

Limiting his televised appearances during the crisis, the prime minister late on Monday praised the fire pilots' "heroic" efforts and thanked countries that sent assistance.

More than 500 firefighters -- joined by counterparts from Austria, Cyprus, France, Italy and Turkey -- were deployed north and northeast of Athens where the fire scorched more than 20,000 hectares and destroyed scores of homes.

But the government said it had turned down a "generous" offer of assistance from Macedonia, the tiny northern neighbour with whom relations are tense over an 18-year name dispute.

The public works ministry on Monday said around 150 homes had been damaged after a first estimate but it was widely agreed that scores of properties were completely destroyed.

A more detailed inspection of stricken areas began on Tuesday.

A small number of people were in temporary housing, the authorities said.

At least two people were injured according to reports, and a waterbomber pilot was picked out of the sea off Nea Makri on Monday after his plane lost one of its floats, the government said. The plane was towed to safety.

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