(Updates with fire brought under control)

ATHENS, July 23 (Reuters) - A forest fire north of Athens sent residents fleeing from their homes and closed a main highway into the Greek capital before it was brought under control on Wednesday, officials said.

Seven aircraft and 25 fire trucks fought the blaze, which reached the gardens of houses in Kryoneri, on the outskirts of Athens, reviving memories of deadly forest fires which swept Greece last year.

Police officials said no houses had been burnt and the fire, which raged unchecked for several hours fanned by strong winds, was finally brought under control in the evening.

State television showed the main national highway into northeast Athens empty of vehicles, as orange flames licked through the brush and grey smoke swept across the road.

"We have cut off traffic ... on the national highway near the fire front," Kostas Koumandanos, head of traffic police for the Attica region surrounding Athens, told state television.

A Reuters photographer in Kryoneri said dozens of residents were fleeing their homes as the flames approached.

Hundreds of wildfires have hit Greece already this year as summer temperatures have soared. A record heatwave last August sparked a 10-day inferno in southern Greece which killed 65 people.

Environmental groups have criticised the conservative New Democracy government for not doing enough to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy. The government insists it has taken the necessary precautions. (Reporting by Yiorgos Karahalis; writing by Daniel Flynn)

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