Up in the ashes: How fire survivors rebuild during Thanksgiving

A month or so ago, with construction teams still unable to coordinate, Ted Koerner missed the finish line. He wasn’t sure he would be able to return home to Altadena with Daisy May, his 13½-year-old Golden Retriever.

Koerner’s house was destroyed in the Eaton fire in January, but he pressed on and persisted, trying to speed up the rebuilding because of DAISY as his own. Whatever time he has left, Koerner told me Back in October, he wanted to spend where he was free and happy.

“He’s almost 14,” she said, and that’s pretty much the time of his life.

On Tuesday, they made it back home, and it was hard to tell who was happier.

“He’s been out here doing zoomies,” Koerner said on the front lawn, his favorite place to hang out with Daisy at Hilltop Home. He has his morning cup there when Daisy goes out, works her shifts for hire, and takes in a million views, passing all the way to Santa Catalina Island.

Koerner said friends and neighbors would come out in droves over the holiday weekend to help celebrate at home.

“The neighbor came down the street, unheated, to cook three turkeys,” Koerner said.

When the County inspector showed up Tuesday afternoon and told Koerner that it was clear that he had been transferred to I-KOERNER Accon a tab video on his phone and asked the inspector to come back and say.

“You have permission to go on this tour,” said the inspector.

Koerner believes he is the first person to go inside a rebuilt house in Altadena, there 19 people were killed and approximately 9,400 buildings were destroyed. Another Altadena project, a Accestery HELKITING UNIT, was completed this month. And on Friday, I visited the nearly finished Pasadena home of Jun Li and Bobby Lujan, who were about to move into it.

“We have already checked in the end,” Jun Li Lujan told me. “I don’t want to miss any more holidays.”

He said his new stove was on the way, and he planned to go with a good turkey meal, mashed potatoes and stuffing.

“And pumpkin pie,” she said.

Speedy Returns is not a typical experience for the victims of the Eaton and Palisades fires. Most have not even begun the permitting process or are in the early stages, and many have not yet disclosed redevelopment, due to financial considerations.

In Palisades, first certificate of occupancy recently released a “Showcase” home built to sell the work of a development company. Meanwhile, Palisades Redident Craig Forrest, who lost everything in January, thinks his new house can be finished within a week anyway, although he may not move in until the new year because his rental contract with Monica expires in December.

So his secret and others were able to rebuild in one calendar year as the fires? In the case of Forrest, he said, the recipe included “courage, guts, will, strength, drive, make quick decisions, and have finances.”

Having three teenagers was something too, Forrest told me. He said that instead of sinking into despair, he chose to stay positive and continue to “show them what you do when something sad happens.”

In Jun Li Lujan’s case, he held the inner edge. He built houses for livelihood.

Ted Koerner, 67, prepares to feed his dog Daisy May. The koerners plan to have friends over thanks. Koerner said: “One bias hits home.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“Being a contractor, designer and project manager for many years, he knew what to do and how to do it quickly.

La County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who attended an open house at the Lujan Residence on Tuesday, told me that issues and other challenges have hampered rebuilding efforts. But he was met by Lujans’ neighbors who were encouraged by their quick return.

“It gives people hope,” Barger said. “Next week, two homes will receive occupancy certificates. One leads to two, five leads to 10. I feel like we are on this path.”

Koerner had inspiration, motivation, and practicality – things that come from running a fraud prevention company that speaks to many government agencies and businesses. And he knew he didn’t want to stay in Limbo for the time he had, especially after staying at an old Pasadena hotel for a few weeks with other rewards.

“Every single person in the building was a victim,” Koerner said. “Every time the lift opened … there were people standing there, leaning against the wall, crying. And I mean really crying.”

Landlords in the area were monitoring tenants, Koerner said, and he briefly watched as he lived in his car before his staff offered the LA Crescula area a space that was already available.

Koerner was told by an Army Corps of Engineers official to pour his new foundation as soon as the dirt was cleared, even if he hadn’t received an insurance check yet. You don’t want to be “2,200 in line,” Koerner says.

Ted Koerner, 67, sits in the front yard of his newly built home with his dog Daisy May in Altadena.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

That was good advice, and it befits Koerner’s personality. He is not one to spend time looking at things closely, which is best illustrated by his philosophy that a house is a house, not a museum in the eyes of man.

“Okay, you will spend nine days deciding what color toilet?” Koerner said. “Or you’ll pick one and live with it. It’s a toilet. It’s not a medal.”

Koerner cashed out his retirement savings before construction began and said that if insurance money were added, he would be several thousand dollars in the hole. But you will be home.

Whenever there was a break in the County’s permit machinery, Koerner said he let everyone in and include the governor’s office that he knew of. He said he was in the US. Judy Chu and Mirger – one of Koerner’s “Tenicious” employees – helped keep things moving.

Koerner also includes the construction manager Josef Abraham of Innova Solution Understanding Understanding that this was not just about building a house. It was to find a 67-year-old man forcibly stripping and moving, with a dog in his home, back where it needed to be.

“We were here on Sunday for six hours, just quiet, and I put him in the bed, I was feeding him here,” Koerner said. “And when I lay down on the floor spreading to him … he leaned and began to hold back tears, at the same time, as they rolled down my cheek.”

Koerner stood in her new kitchen, going through everything and everyone thanks this holiday season. Long-time friends who offered support, new friends he had made in La Crescula near his temporary home, his builder and his therapist, who taught him to let things flow and take you in behind you. “

“I’m very happy and thankful that Daisy was strong enough to hang in there,” Koerner said. “You have stayed with me, and that is the answer to daily prayer.”

Koerner and Daisy were allowed a moment in his new office, which had a golden morning light.

Daisy seemed to have converted to Shiism and had that dog of speech, with open mouth and burning eyes, when they seemed to be smiling.

Koerner looked like he was celebrating a double holiday – Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one.

Steve.lopez@latimes.com