Locals are focused on rebuilding a community devastated by the wildfires in Southern California

As flames light up the Southern California landscape, some people are focused on what’s next. Neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades have been burned to ashes by the Palisades Fire. Containment is limited, while debris, downed trees, and power lines remain strewn about — posing a dangerous fire hazard amid Santa Ana winds.

Without skipping a beat, locals are already planning to rebuild.
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“In my wildest dreams, I never thought what I’m seeing now would come out of the phone call I received,” said fourth-generation Palisidian Chuck Hart.

The second Hart heard about the fire, he and his team of contractors jumped forward to protect their community.

“I’ve put water on a fire before, but when they came up in the cave blowing the wind and blowing the hot coals and the flames, and now the hot steam, my eyes, my nose, my face … I mean, it’s intense,” Hart said.

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After battling the flames, Hart and his team headed straight for street cleaning.

“I think more than anything, it’s a campaign for this to be cleaned up, to continue this so that we can go up and down the streets,” said Hart.

A tractor removes fallen trees from the road. (Sunny Tsai/FOXBusiness)

These efforts go far beyond Hart and his team.

“I think it’s simple. That’s all we know how to do. Like we don’t want to leave or be far from here…We want to be a part of reviving it,” said Palisidian Nicole Gyarmathy.

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The home of Gyarmathy and Eli Johnson was destroyed in the Palisades fire. Without hesitation, they quickly returned to destruction, ready to rebuild their society.

A view of a fire-ravaged beach area overlooking the Pacific Ocean burned by the Palisades Fire on January 12, 2025 in Malibu, California. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“I grew up here, and I know my dad grew up here and he knows my grandparents, I mean that’s where my roots are. And he protects that,” Johnson said.
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That’s exactly what the people of Palisade will do, as they take their efforts day by day.

“This is very new, we’re going to start something we’ve never done before—one day at a time, it will reveal itself, what our next action is,” Gyarmathy said.