An “exceptionally dangerous” wildfire — with flames that have reached as high as 80 feet — is burning around Athens in the height of Greece’s tourist season, forcing mass evacuations, authorities said.

       Hundreds of firefighters are working to control the devastating blaze that has raced through forests, carried by strong winds over land left particularly dry by the heat waves that have scorched Southern Europe this summer. Greece has experienced one of its hottest and driest summers on record, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service.