The deadly Palisades Fire is still raging in Los Angeles, but Chuck Hart and his construction crew have begun a days-long mission to clean up and rebuild the shattered neighborhood.

"We never left," the local contractor said during a brief break as he shouted instructions to his army of workers, who were shoveling charred debris from roads and sidewalks into large pickup trucks and trailers.

“We will do everything we can to get this place back up and running as quickly as possible.”

The Palisades fire has killed at least eight people and was one of 25 people set on fire across Los Angeles. Entire blocks of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood were leveled, with much of the area covered in ash, mud and collapsed buildings.

Officials did not pay or contract Hart and his team of employees to perform the cleanup.

In fact, they shouldn't even be there.

They couldn't leave because there were roadblocks in place at Pacific Palisades because they couldn't re-enter, and they "had to sneak in materials and supplies" to do their work.

"We were staying in my house. We were sleeping on the floor, on jujitsu mats, on couches, on beds...no hot water, cold showers, 31 people - it was terrible," he said.

Hart and his team were working at a nearby construction site when the fire broke out.

Hearing that his mother's house was about to be destroyed by fire, Hart told his team to "stop whatever you're doing" and summoned them to protect her property with hoses.

"We just rock and roll," he said.

“We were putting out the fire and then we went around all the houses ... clearing the streets of debris.

“We’ve been doing it non-stop ever since.”

As far as Hart knows, no one else has begun cleaning up Pacific Palisades.

So far, his team has not touched any private property, focusing on roads and sidewalks.

He seemed to have the tacit approval of police and fire officials, who regularly patrolled the streets checking for smoldering hot spots or looters. One local fire station even shared food with his staff.

“People in this community who know me very well and know me at the top level vouch for me 100 percent,” he said.

He paid for the staff out of his own pocket for the first few days, but has now launched a GoFundMe appeal that has raised $170,000 so far.

Still, Hart said convincing his crew to stay has never been a problem. He said many of the people "were like family" and had worked for him for 25 years.

"I stayed to protect the area where I work and to save the company because that's where my employer's house is," Raul Lopez Acosta said.

While wealthy residents of the Palisades may "have the money" to redevelop, "there's a lot more to it than just the architecture, a lot of memories, feelings, people who have been here for two or three generations," he said.

Without access to a waste disposal site to dump the mountains of rubble, Hart and his team "hijacked" their neighbor's fire-ravaged land.

He has yet to contact the property owner and get permission, but plans to have the rubble removed as soon as the road opens.

Regardless, he believes the owners will understand given the unique circumstances.

"We're going to fix this. This is an emergency," he said.

Hart is convinced Pacific Palisades will be rebuilt. He believes many residents are eager to return and help, but are currently being slowed down by bureaucracy.

Officials warned of dangers such as rekindled fires, downed power lines and a lack of safe water and electrical service.

Jackie Irvin, who represents Palisades in the California Assembly, said Tuesday that official debris removal efforts will be "completed as quickly as possible."

But Hart didn't want to wait, especially with his construction company's resources, from dump trucks and trailers to skid steers and grapples, at his fingertips.

"I'm in a unique position to serve my community to the greatest extent possible, and I'm going to do that," he said. "I got all the trucks. I got all the gear. I got these guys."