A year after Eaton fire, Altadena man fights to honor late sister's memory. 'Can't replace what I lost'

"I feel like the only time they're remembered is when they're forced to remember them,"

"The main focus is rebuilding a house, getting back in, cleaning a house, getting back in."

"Everybody lost something that they can never get back, but they can replace what they lost,"

"A lot of the people who lost loved ones, they aren't being represented anywhere,"

David Swayne lost his sister Lora in the Eaton fire and avoided public comment for months to escape media spectacle. As the one-year anniversary approached, he worried that the 31 people who died across Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu were becoming afterthoughts amid reconstruction. Swayne observed a community focus on rebuilding houses, cleaning and returning to properties while mourning families felt sidelined from memorial events. His family's home survived, but he said his sister's loss is irreplaceable. At a commemoration, local religious leaders read the 19 Eaton fire victims' names, and Swayne heard a pastor mispronounce his sister's name.

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