A man and his beloved dog have moved into what is the first home completely rebuilt after the Eaton Fire.
Teddy Koerner told KNX News’ Emily Valdez his home in Altadena burned in four minutes during the Eaton Fire. The only thing that was left were the two chimneys.
After the fires, he and his dog Daisy lived in a one-room hotel.
But last week, Koerner moved into his 2,100 square foot home.
“It's very humbling,” he told Valdez. “A lot of people did a lot for me, and so the feeling is very similar to the immediate aftermath of the fire because it's incredibly humbling. There's a whole lot of friends, people at the county, my builders that made this happen.”
Koerner said his new home is “built the way they build them in New Zealand” and explained all the ways he fireproofed it.
“There are no vents into the attic,” he said. “There is a very limited attic space just large enough for the air conditioning ducts. All of the eaves on the outside of the house are sealed in stucco. There's very little wood on the outside of the house. There's a full sprinkler system inside the house, full-glazed tempered glass windows.”
His advice to others who are trying to get their home rebuilt after the fires? Don't give up on getting an SBA loan.
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“Don't spend it on anything other than rebuilding your house, which is what the money is for, because if you spend it on a car, they're not gonna give you any more of it,” he said. “You have to prove that the money is going into building your house.”
He added he had some roadblocks with his mortgage servicer, but he called Fannie Mae in Washington, D.C. He also made calls to Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s Office, and she took care of any local issues he was having.
There are still about 2,300 other homes that need to be built. The county says on average, it will take three years for each one to be completed.
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