Open fires in Greek homes create cloud of smog above Athens The country agreed to increase price of heating oil by 48 per cent The plan cost the treasury Â£422million in lost income Air pollution doubled in Athens over the weekend Hard-pressed families in Athens have been lighting open fires in their homes to keep warm as energy prices soar. Millions of Greeks have been forced to burn wood in their homes after the country agreed to increase the price of heating oil by 48 per cent. The move, which was under the terms of an EU bailout, was meant to see the price rise on a par with diesel and raise revenues. Pollution: Greeks have been lighting open fires to try and keep warm as fuel prices increase by 48 per cent However, the Times reports the plan has backfired and has cost the treasury Â£422million in lost income as low income families turn to raw materials to heat their homes. The city now has dangerously high toxicity levels and health and environment officials have warned people to limit the use of open fires. Alexandros Papayiannis, a physicist from Athens Polytechnic University, said: 'The toxicity levels are becoming dangerous. It's turning Athens into a gas chamber.' EU regulations say countries have to keep air pollution under 50 microgrammes a day but this weekend saw the levels in Athens double that limit. Refusal: Consumer watchdog Inka says four out of five apartment blocks have refused to pay for heating oil Temperatures in the country are set to drop still further and officials are now looking at shutting down industrial units to limit the pollution and families on low incomes will be given free electricity in a bid to stop them lighting open fires. Athens-based consumer watchdog Inka says four out of five apartment blocks in the city have refused to pay for heating oil. A 13-year-old girl died of carbon monoxide poisoning earlier this month at her home in northern Greece. Panayiotis Behrakis, a professor in respiratory medicine at Harvard, said: ' Every citizen must show responsibility and restraint, or else all will suffer the dire consequences.'