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Fighting back tears, documentary filmmaker Keri Pickett sifted through the rubble of what remained of her northeastern Minnesota cabin Sunday after the Camp House fire swept through the area earlier in the week.

鈥淓verything at the ground level, all the metal roofing is on top of a pile of just absolute destruction,鈥� she said. 鈥淓verything is kind of melted together and a huge jumble, and it just looks like an ancient site, like it鈥檚 been here for a million years like this.鈥�

Contributed / Keri Pickett

Pickett鈥檚 cabin, purchased through an inheritance after her aunt鈥檚 death, was only about a half-mile from the epicenter of the blaze. The only things that were spared were a cast-iron pan and, surprisingly, a recently built sauna.

鈥淚t was saved because I had a huge amount of chopped firewood right behind it, and the fire came towards the sauna, but then that hot, hot fire must have stopped it from advancing. It created a fire break,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven though the back side of the sauna, the wiring is melted, and the wood is charred, the sauna looks totally usable.鈥�

But the sauna was locked when the fire arrived, and the key was in the cabin at the time. Pickett was searching through what was left to find it so she could see the extent of the fire鈥檚 damage to the interior.

Pickett said char lines on some of the surrounding trees went up 30 feet. Almost a week later, after fire swept through the area, she said areas of her property were still smoldering.

Contributed / Keri Pickett

鈥淢y neighbor down the road, he lost his childhood home, his parents鈥� home, and he lost it right away,鈥� she said.

Pickett was later joined by another neighbor, Greg Ruberg, who stopped by to check on her. He said all the buildings on his property 鈥� about a quarter-mile from Pickett鈥檚 鈥� were fine, as the fire appeared to burn all the way around them following the lakeshore up a ridge.

While he credits getting rid of some balsam trees earlier in the year for protecting his property, he said the real heroes are the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the firefighters.

鈥淭he planes, helicopters and float planes were dropping water on the front of the fire. And I think we just got really lucky,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 watched plane after plane hit the fire from the road. I could tell our property was burning. I could see the smoke coming up from the road, so I knew around the cabin was burning.鈥�

While Ruberg鈥檚 property made it out of the ordeal relatively unscathed, he said others weren鈥檛 as fortunate.

鈥淚鈥檓 kind of heartbroken for everybody around me, because I know people lost their homes and their cabins and garages,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll three other properties on this road are completely gone, including a relative and others.鈥�

The Minnesota Interagency Coordination Center reports that favorable weather conditions over the weekend helped in the fight against the wildfires in northeastern Minnesota, but that鈥檚 forecast to change.

鈥淭he fact that we鈥檝e had a little bit of rain, you know, we are still in that dry condition, and the humidities go back down later in the week,鈥� said Mary Nordeen, MNICC public information officer. 鈥淪o that high fire danger remains.鈥�

More than 400 firefighters are helping fight the blazes.