Ted Koerner stood in the front yard of his home on Wednesday, tears welling, hands proudly clasped behind his back.

The Eaton fire didn’t leave much of his old home on Alta Loma Drive in his beloved Altadena. “Ashes and chimneys,” he said, much like the thousands of homes across the unincorporated town that were reduced to nothing the week of Jan. 7, when the catastrophe ignited.

But on Wednesday, Koerner and his faithful dog, Daisy May, stood ready for a new chapter in what is now their newly rebuilt home, which on Wednesday officially became the first primary residential rebuild in Altadena to get a certificate of occupancy, meaning they can live in it safely under county code.

All of a sudden, from smouldering rubble months ago, his front yard was the scene of a signing ceremony, whe

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