ALTADENA, Calif. – Ted Koerner once thought he might never witness this heartwarming scene again: his cherished golden retriever, Daisy Mae, frolicking in the backyard beneath the sprawling branches of his 175-year-old Heritage Oak tree.

Just a year ago, the relentless Eaton Fire forced Koerner to evacuate his home with Daisy Mae, who was 12 at the time. Packing hurriedly, he grabbed a few essentials—sweatpants, long-sleeved shirts, a pillow, and two photos of Daisy Mae—before driving away, flames ominously closing in at the end of his street in Altadena.

Koerner and Daisy Mae found refuge in a hotel, joining hundreds of other displaced residents after the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires, which claimed 31 lives and razed thousands of homes. During those initial weeks, they took walks through the charred landscape, each step crunching on the hardened ash.

“Those first few weeks were beyond devastating,” Koerner recalled, reflecting on the profound impact of the disaster.

His deepest concern was the possibility of losing Daisy Mae before completing the daunting and expensive process of rebuilding. For 12 years, Koerner has shared his life with the 75-pound, snow-white canine companion, often taking her to dine alongside him at even the most upscale restaurants, leash-free.

For nearly a year, Koerner raced against time to rebuild his home. He liquidated most of his retirement holdings so he could afford to hire contractors quickly while he waited for his mortgage servicing company to release his insurance payout.

He gave the builder enough money “to build at record speed, because I need to get home with my dog before she passes,” he recalled telling his mortgage servicing company early on. “Because if she passes, I don’t want to come here. And this is a very, very, very special dog.”

The first time Koerner brought Daisy Mae after construction started, the house was framed, with a roof and openings for windows and doors.

“She walked right over to where the front door was supposed to be, went right in the house, walked around the house, walked over to what was the master bedroom sliding door, which was a great big opening, just like it would have been, and sat down and got a big smile on her face and went, ‘OK, the house is still here,’ ” he said.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, his home was among the first to be rebuilt of the thousands destroyed in the Los Angeles area wildfires a year ago. Construction took just over four months.

“I went into the house and cried a lot,” Koerner said. “It still has that effect. I’m actually home with my dog. ”