Crews are making progress in containing the devastating Spokane Complex Fire, but strong winds are complicating efforts. Officials report increased containment every day.

A KIRO 7 crew was taken to the fire lines of the Old Trails Fire Saturday. The areas under evacuation orders are closed to the public, and roadblocks manned by law enforcement and the National Guard prevent cars from entering.

There, hand-painted signs left by evacuees warned against looting. The ground was black and much of the area was still hot.

A group of firefighters was working to extinguish a particularly troublesome hotspot in the area north of Spokane International Airport. A pile of tires continued to burn at the bottom of a ditch.

The area was too hot for people, so bulldozers were repeatedly sent down to sift through the smoldering ash while crews sprayed water from above.

"This is a big operation," battalion chief Jordan Gustafson of the Valley Regional Fire Authority in Auburn told KIRO 7. "This is near where the fire started."

The tire pile was at the bottom of a hillside used for a marijuana grow operation. Nearby, burnt shells of buildings and cars were visible.

"As the fire front came through, this was probably gone in less than a minute," Gustafson said. "It's just devastating. There is nothing you can do to stop it."

Some things survived the fire, though. A near-untouched playpen full of baby toys was near the crew's heavy equipment. Firefighters taped off a pet cemetery to ensure they didn't accidentally drive over it.

Gustafson's crew had been at the same spot for days. The already difficult work was made even more challenging due to the location's remoteness. No fire hydrants were nearby, so water had to be hauled in- a 40-minute process.

"This is methodical, thoughtful and it takes time," he said.

Nearby, crews searched for other hotspots by hand. They dug up the ground with tools, then touched the ashes to ensure it was cool.

More than 2,000 firefighters are currently working the three fires surrounding Spokane. The fires cover about 10,000 acres and have prompted the evacuation of more than 65,000 people.

More than 900 structures were damaged or destroyed, but officials report no one was killed or injured. They credit that to the quick work of local crews in the early hours of the fire.

"Even though it's huge, it could have been far worse if not for the heroic actions of those firefighters," Benjamin Cossel, a public information officer with California Interagency Incident Management Team 7, said.

Video shared by Spokane County Fire District 8 Local 3711 shows numerous planes performing airdrops over the same area Gustafson's crew is currently working. Officials warn those resources might not be available should weekend winds cause the fire to spark up at the wrong time.

"We also had predictions that this thing was going to blow in the evening hours," Daniel Ramey of CIIMT 7 said. "We have to be very careful because if a fire does start, we don't have aircraft during the night hours."

Cossel estimates the firefighting will continue for about another two weeks.

"The road to recovery, to get Spokane back to where it needs to be, is a long road ahead," he said.

Full recovery, Cossel said, will likely take years.

"This fire was out of control," Gustafson said. "I've personally never seen anything like this. I've never been on a fire where I've seen so many burnt-down homes."