(Releads, adds rescue, victim quotes, tourists)

By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou

ATHENS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Strong winds reinvigorated fires that have cut a trail of destruction across Greece over the past eight days, killing 63 people, and authorities said they would burn for at least four more days.

A helicopter rescued five firefighters and 17 civilians who had been fighting a blaze in the Parnonas mountains, which rise to almost 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) on the eastern side of the Peloponnese peninsula that makes up southern Greece.

"This is a very crucial day and these are the most crucial hours of this day," fire brigade spokesman Nikos Diamantis told an afternoon news briefing.

Diamantis said the winds and high temperatures "create the conditions for new fires to break out in already burnt areas", noting from Sunday "we expect a small fall in temperature but strong winds will remain".

Two locals refused to board the helicopter, preferring to remain in their village despite the fast-spreading wildfire.

Antonis Papanikolaou, who runs a bed and breakfast in Polydroso, said he and other villagers were desperately trying to make a firebreak to stop the flames.

"There is no fire brigade, there is nothing! We are all alone," he told Reuters by telephone. "The Canadairs are only throwing water onto the monastery and there are blasting winds in the area. There is nothing left, we are burning."

REBUILD

Earlier on Saturday Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who faces national elections on Sept. 16, gave European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso a helicopter tour of smouldering parts of the Peloponnese.

"A Greek problem is a European problem and above all this, this is a human tragedy," Barroso told reporters. "Now we can rebuild what has been destroyed."

Estimates of damage to the economy range from 1.2 billion euros ($1.64 billion) to 4 billion. The Commission has said it could provide up to 200 million euros from a 'solidarity fund'.

Karamanlis, who has blamed arsonists for the fires, has called for national unity. His administration has doled out at least 107 million euros in compensation so far.

The opposition socialist PASOK party has decried the government's handling of the disaster but has made little apparent progress towards beating him at the ballot box.

The last opinion polls showed the ruling New Democracy party keeping around a 2 percentage point lead over PASOK but support for both parties has waned since the fires began.

In some areas, life was returning to normal. Ancient Olympia, site of the first Olympics in 776 BC, was busy with tourists on Saturday, a week after firefighters had managed to save it from fires which scorched surrounding trees.

"We came last Thursday and the scenes are absolutely devastating," said Briton Kenneth Hemmings, 59, as he sat drinking orange juice at an Ancient Olympia cafe. "We were told it used to be all green. My heart goes out to these people."

The World Conservation Union (IUCN), a Geneva-based global network of state and non-governmental groups, said inadequate rural planning had made the fires almost inevitable.

"Greece ... will continue to face these crises year after year until legal and institutional issues pertaining to land development, changes in rural demographics and the collapse of traditional farming practices are addressed," said IUCN's Bill Jackson. (Additional reporting by Michele Kambas in Ancient Olympia)

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