Oscar-winning Australian director and actor Mel Gibson has reflected on how it felt when he learned he had lost almost everything when his $23.5 million mansion burned to the ground in the LA fires .

Gibson, 69, discovered his home was consumed by fire while recording an episode for Joe Rogan’s podcast on Friday and has since opened up about the tragedy to Fox host Laura Ingraham.

“These are things and they may or may not be replaceable, but we’re still here and I just look at it like a cleansing in a weird way,” he told Fox News.

After learning that his home was on the verge of destruction, the actor said he rushed back to the Malibu mansion with his son to grab everything they could before everything turned to ashes.

He said the couple escaped with only their passports and a few other important documents, while their artworks and books, some dating back to the 16th century and of priceless value, were destroyed in the flames.

“It reminds me of the old cattle sheds where people were driven off the land.” “I don’t know… it just seemed a little convenient that there was no water,” he said.

“The wind conditions and the fact that there were people who were ready, willing and able to set fires. “And do they have a mandate to do that or are they just acting on their own initiative?”

At least 10 people were killed as devastating fires raged in Los Angeles for a fourth straight day and police carried out a series of looting and arson attacks.

As of Friday, over 10,000 buildings had been burned, with a total of 29,053 hectares of land burned in one of Los Angeles’ most horrific disasters yet.

There are growing questions, including from Gibson himself, about why Los Angeles and California officials failed to prepare for the disaster despite being adequately warned of upcoming winds.

Gibson said he knew his home was destroyed after being warned it was in the direct path of the fire, but it was still shocking to see the rubble left behind.

“By and large it’s all gone.” When I went there yesterday it looked like Dresden after Bomber Harris got away with it. “There’s nothing left,” he said.

Gibson was referring to February 1945, when British warplanes destroyed the German city of Dresden in a five-hour bombing raid near the end of World War II.

“My son grabbed three things and ran away, and they’re fine, things like passports and some papers… (but) it’s tragic, it really makes you sad,” he said.

“There are actually neighbors that I have, and when I looked at them, I felt worse for them than I did for myself.”

“I look at it as a strange mix of sadness and almost a kind of elation in a way. I just count my blessings…it is what it is, I guess.”

His home and many surrounding buildings were destroyed by the fire, which destroyed more than 10,000 other buildings this week.

He had appeared for a three-hour conversation with Rogan as the fires spread to his home, but Gibson said that as a podcaster he didn’t mind.“I can reassure you somewhat, so I was fine and I knew my family was safe.”

Gibson also shared disturbing visions while appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience.

The actor-turned-filmmaker warned the controversial podcaster that society is headed for a “collapse” while discussing the fires that have devastated several Los Angeles-area neighborhoods and left other celebrities homeless.

“All these signs, the harbingers of a collapse, they are present in our time.” “It won’t take long,” he said.

He also criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom for failing to “take care of and preserve the forest,” even though the current fires all started in urban environments.

The actor said: “I think Newsom said, ‘I’m going to take care of the forest and preserve the forest and do all these things’ – he didn’t do anything.”

Rogan chimed in, saying the governor of California was using tax dollars to help the homeless instead of fire protection.

The Passion Of The Christ director agreed with the host before joking: “I think all of our tax money probably went into Gavin’s hair gel.”

Apocalyptic fires raged through the upscale Pacific Palisades enclave on Tuesday and quickly spread to surrounding suburbs as a storm carried embers and debris in every direction.

Residents fled and waited with bated breath to learn more about their homes as news filtered out that entire streets had been wiped off the map, firefighters had run out of water and firefighting resources had been withdrawn on multiple fronts.

This came as Newsom searched for an answer after being hounded by a distraught Los Angeles mother demanding answers to the wildfires ravaging the city.

The California governor apologized and claimed he was trying to reach the president by phone when he was approached by the emotional woman on Thursday.

It came as large swathes of the city continued to be engulfed in flames, which destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.

Newsom was unable to provide a concrete answer about recovery efforts during the grilling, which lasted nearly two agonizing minutes.

On Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tried to deflect criticism that fire hydrants are running dry by insisting that they are full but simply aren’t designed to handle a disaster of this magnitude.

Her comments came as fires continued to burn for a third straight day, making the Pacific Palisades fire the most devastating blaze in the county’s history.

Almost 180,000 people are under evacuation orders, and hundreds of thousands are still without power.