"I lost my house, everything that my late wife and I..." said Dave Skibinski, who had to pause to recapture his composure. "It's hard to say that. It was the home that she choose."
With more than 6,100 homes reduced to dirt and charred memories, Altadena is overflowing with stories of loss. But those emotions have long been conjoined with frustration and anger, some of it surfacing at a packed Eaton Fire Survivors Network news conference Wednesday morning.
"We know the insurance process has been more difficult and time consuming than anyone should have to endure," Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said. "They need to do their job. Most people get fired for not doing their job."
Assemblymember John Harabedian pointed out some of the highlights of the recovery efforts but said home insurance companies are failing to help their policy holders.
"We got mortgage forbearance, we made sure there was quick and timely cleanup," he said. "However, we see delays and denials on the insurance level, we continue to see people that have financial distress."
And still missing is an official cause of the Eaton Fire.
The U.S. Justice Department has laid the blame on a Southern California Edison transmission line, but California and L.A. County fire investigators still have not issued a final cause, delaying possible payouts to fire victims.
"We are litigating to make sure that Edison comes up with a fair even-handed resolution and a settlement for the people so they can start rebuilding, and that this community can be restored to even stronger than what it was a decade ago," said attorney Raffi Kassabian, who is also an Eaton Fire survivor.