. >> reporter: this video was shot by chuck hart as his beloved neighborhood of pacific palisades went up in flames. chuck spent that first day doing all he could to save both his home and his mom's. >> can we get a little bit of water over here real quick? just on the corner. >> reporter: miraculously, he saved both homes but so much of the rest of the neighborhood was flattened, so once the worst of the flames died out and the sun came up, chuck who owns a local construction company grabbed all the gear he could and a crew of 30 men and headed out. >> we loaded everybody up, chainsaws, field up, ready to rock 'n roll, dump trucks and everything, we started cutting the trees up. >> reporter: for more than a week, from sunup to sundown, chuck and his crew have been snaking through the destroyed areas, clearing trees and debris to help first responders get through. >> so, we did all of this, we circled back, and they were more trees falling. >> reporter: the fires were so powerful, they seemed to have burned the trees from the inside out, creating a huge hazard. >> all of a sudden, it j

. >> reporter: this video is shot by chuck hart as his beloved neighborhood went up in flames. >> i don't even know, but it's all the way down to the beach. >> reporter: chuck spent that first day doing all he could to save his home and his mom's. >> can we get a little bit of water over here? >> reporter: miraculously he saved both homes. but the rest of the neighborhood was flattened. chuck, who owns a local construction company, grabbed all the gear he could. >> loaded everybody up. chain saws in, like fueled up, ready to roll. just started to section trees and cut them up. >> reporter: for more tan a week now from sun up to sun down, chuck and his crew have been snaking through the destroyed areas. clearing trees and debris to help first responders get through. >> and so we did all of our cast. we did el niÑo, which i circled back through there. there's more trees that have fallen. >> reporter: chuck says the fires were so powerful that they seemed to have burnt many of the trees from the inside-out. creating a huge hazard. >> and so it is sitting there and then they snap, and a massi

but the man that i introduced you to, chuck hart and his team, they've made an excellent relationship with law enforcement and have showed them, you know, we're here to help you. and so you have organizations like that, volunteer organizations that are getting that access because they need help, too. i mean, we have so many people on the ground, so many boots on the ground. but just given the immense devastation that is surrounding me, it just isn't enough when you look at it, and it's hard to explain it with the words that i have right now, but just seeing it isn't enough. it just it's so much damage. and so anybody that can help and that they've allowed access to this area, they're going to accept that help because we have the los angeles department of water and power there trying to get rid of those trees. you can maybe hear the buzzing in the background right now, those downed power lines as well. but any additional resources, that goes a very long way. we have to think step by step at this moment, the here and now. because just a little bit of effort, a little bit of effort day b

his neighbor was chuck hart, where he was out there as i said with a crew of people. he's the owner of the local construction company, as he told us he's been here in the palisades since the fire started last week. now on the day of the flames, he would race from his home to his mother's home to do all he could to protect those two places. miraculously, he was able to save both of those homes. but it was hard for him to watch really as the city would burn down around him. once those flames would stop. he jumped in to action and grabbed all his construction equipment and his crew and headed out to help clean up as much as he could. and they have been working non-stop since. >> and this convoy that you would see going up and down. it loaded everybody up. cain had saws in, like fueled up, ready to rock 'n' roll, everything, just start sectioning trees, getting stuff out of the way. >> reporter: and chuck told us they have been weaving their way through the streets, cutting down all the burned out trees, and even more than a week now until they first tore through here whe

. >> reporter: this video was shot by chuck hart as his beloved neighborhood of pacific palisades went up in flames. >> i don't even know. we haven't left, but i'm guessing it's all the way from -- down to the beach. >> reporter: chuck spent that first day doing all he could to save both his home and his mom's. >> ryan, can we get a little bit of water over here real quick? yeah. just on that corner. >> reporter: miraculously, he saved both homes, but so much of the rest of the neighborhood was flattened. so once the worst of the flames died out and the sun came up chuck, who owns a local construction company, grabbed all the gear he could and a crew of 30 men and headed out. >> loaded everybody up, chainsaws in, like fueled up ready to rock and roll, dump trucks, everything, just started sectioning trees, cutting trees up getting stuff out of the way. >> reporter: for more than a week now from sun-up to sundown chuck and his crew have been snaking through the destroyed areas, clearing trees and debris to help first responders get through. >> so we did all of marquez. we did elmenia, w

i've got lifelong pacific palisades resident and contractor chuck hart, who joins me now. chuck. my god, watching you guys just try to fight what looks like a relentless fire against all costs. the fire is quickly closing in. i understand you were at your neighbor's house who you've known your entire life. what? what happened? okay. >> it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. >> um, i was in town, uh, actually, at a job site over in rustic canyon, and i got a phone call from a buddy of mine, ryan mooneyham. and, uh, he said, hey, you know what? i think there's a fire burning up by your mom's house. within two seconds of that phone call, my mom was on call waiting, i clicked over, she's like, chuck, i can smell fire. i'm really worried. i said, mom, i'm coming right now. i ran over to my house. um, i am a contractor, so i happen to have a bunch of fire hose. uh, luckily, a wrench and the key for the hydrant and reducers. i grabbed all that stuff, threw everything in my truck, raced up the hill, and, um, i was really blown away because this happened a few months back, or maybe a year ago.

i mean, i met a man named chuck hart.p here in the pacific palisades, and he has family that has lived here for generations. he got the call that there was a fire starting. and sometimes you get that here in los angeles. he didn't believe it would reach the extent that it did his crews. he had a team of construction members just helping him battle the fire. and they said, you know, at a certain point they were doing okay. it was suddenly when they got and they lost access to water. i should say that the story began to change. pretty soon they're out of resources and there's nothing that they can do. almost feeling helpless, their hands were tied, so they worked hard to battle those fires, helping those brave firefighters as much as they could in a very stressful situation. but now, here we are days later. and what they're doing now is the cleanup process. we have a lot of these downed trees, downed power lines in this area, kind of dangerous debris, especially as we're still dealing with the weather threat that is against