A local resident gestures as he holds an empty water hose during an attempt to extinguish forest fires approaching the village of Pefki on Evia island, Greece's second largest island on Sunday. Hundreds of Greek firefighters fought desperately to control wildfires on the island that have charred vast areas of pine forest, destroyed homes and forced tourists and locals to flee. Photo: AFP

Hundreds of Greek islanders packed up their belongings and fled their homes on the Greek island of Evia on Sunday as wildfires continued to rage after a record heat wave.

Greece and neighboring Turkey have been battling the devastating fires for nearly two weeks, with 10 people confirmed dead and dozens needing hospital treatment.

While rain brought some respite from the blazes in Turkey over the weekend, Greece continues to suffer a hot, dry summer.

"They burnt our paradise," 46-year-old islander Triantafyllos Konstantinos told AFP. 

"We are done."

The blazes have destroyed homes and reduced thousands of hectares of land to ash on Evia, Greece's second-largest island just northeast of the capital Athens.

Civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias said a fire front in the north of Evia was being pushed by strong winds toward beach villages.

"We have ahead of us another difficult evening, another difficult night," he said, adding that 17 aircraft were helping to fight the fires on Evia. 

However, fires in the southwestern Peloponnese region and in a northern suburb of Athens had abated, he added.

The rugged landscape and pine forests on Evia that appeal to tourists are helping to spread the fire and make the work of firefighters almost impossible. 

Even waterbombing planes are struggling, with an official telling local media much of the water was evaporating before it reached the ground.

Hundreds of people have already fled the island and another 349 were taken to safety early on Sunday, the coast guard said. 

In Pefki village, young people carried older and disabled people over the sand on to a ferry. Elsewhere, villagers joined in the battle against the flames, helping firefighters.

"We are in the hands of God," 26-year-old Evia resident Yannis Selimis told AFP. 

"The state is absent. If people leave, the villages will burn for sure."

Local officials were critical of the efforts to control the fires, which erupted on the island on August 3.

"I have no more voice left to ask for more aircraft. I can't stand this situation," local mayor Giorgos Tsapourniotis told Skai TV on Saturday.

Many villages were saved only because young people ignored evacuation orders and stayed on to keep the fires away from their homes, he added.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition Syriza party, said the government did not appear to be listening to local concerns about a lack of coordination and equipment.

Local officials were struggling to shelter those forced to flee their homes. Hardalias said on Saturday that provisional shelter had been provided to 2,000 people evacuated from the island.

AFP