Despondent residents returned to gutted homes and fire-scarred landscapes northwest of Athens on Tuesday as wildfires eased across Greece, though hundreds of firefighters were on alert for persistent flare-ups in rugged hills and canyons across the country. More than 200 companion and farm animals rescued by volunteers were housed at a shelter in the town of Megara west of Athens. At Porto Germeno, small religious shrines, ubiquitous in many Greek homes, still stood on the sides of roads or at the entrance to a gutted house. The Greek government has said it would compensate individuals whose homes were destroyed or damaged. We have spent happy times here, and there is nothing anymore,” Gialia said, criticising what she said was a slow response by firefighters.