Live updates: At least 132 structures destroyed by Mountain Fire in Ventura County

Rich Lindenmeyer's home in Las Posas Estates was spared in the Mountain Fire. His neighbors' homes, however, burned to the ground. He says luck was absolutely on his side.

Lindenmeyer says it didn't take long to realize that he and his family had to evacuate in a hurry as Wednesday's fast moving Mountain Fire took over his Camarillo neighborhood.

"You could eat the smoke. It was crunching in your mouth. The sky was red," he said. "No one imagines this I've never been through this."

He lives at the bottom of Cerro Crest Drive. When he returned to his street, he found both neighboring homes gone, but his house was still standing.

"Oh man, I was like I couldn't believe it, I could not believe it," he said.

Lindenmeyer is among the survivors certainly feeling lucky - but also with a sense of remorse, knowing friends next door lost everything.

"What do you say? What do you say to them, I'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened to you, you know... they're our friends," he said.

Now 48 hours later, he's confident the area will bounce back, but isn't sure what it all means for the people - who called this street home.

"I don't know if these people rebuild, but I think it will be rebuilt and rejuvenated and yeah, you'll have that neighborhood turnover. It'll just take a while I think," he said.

"What do you say to them? I'm sorry. They're our friends." Rich Lindenmeyer's home was spared in the Mountain Fire but his neighbors' homes were lost.

In the midst of the devastation, people are left with more questions than answers.

Many evacuees were sent to a temporary evacuation shelter set up by the American Red Cross at Padre Serra Church.

Randy Hermans said he left his home on Wednesday, just as he saw a line of fire trucks racing in.

Many evacuees were sent to a temporary evacuation shelter set up by the American Red Cross at Padre Serra Church.

"You just have to pull over and give them the thumbs up, pray for them, because these people are driving towards the disaster, and I'm driving away."

Hermans said his home is about two miles from where the fire broke out but it wasn't damaged.

"We are very fortunate our house safe. We were there yesterday," he said.

Hermans is among the more than four dozen evacuees at the shelter.

Suni Pedraza has spent the last two nights there, hoping she still has a home.

"They are so nice. They are so well prepared, and they are treating us so like ... they are treating me like a princess," she said about the shelter.

But the same can't be said for all evacuees. So far, nearly 200 homes were lost in the fire.

"Everything is gone. I lost everything," said Sayeed Sikder, who lost his home of five years. "We don't know where we are going to go because we have no place to go."

The Red Cross shelter is not only a place for residents to rest, it's also where they can get the latest information on the fire.

The fast-moving Mountain Fire moved through Camarillo on Wednesday and destroyed dozens of homes.

Satellite images from Maxar Technologies show a part of a neighborhood before the wildfire swept through the area and the destruction after the flames destroyed homes.

The Santa Ana winds that drove the fire expected to subside by late Friday morning.

A red-flag warning expired at 11 a.m., but firefighters still have a long way to go.

According to CAL FIRE, the blaze is burning in steep, rugged terrain, with dry and receptive fuels, which they say have challenged containment efforts.

The Santa Anas are expected to return early-to-midweek next week.

Though the winds began diminishing, the fire continued to back in areas where it hadn't been tied into control lines, CAL FIRE said.

The Santa Anas are expected to return early-to-midweek next week, according to the National Weather Service.