Fire crews battling a wildfire in Arizona's eastern mountains are making progress, as 5 percent of the massive fire had been contained by Monday morning.

Southwest Area Incident Management Team spokesman Bob Dyson said Monday morning that the San Juan Fire had expanded to almost 9 square miles, up from nearly 8 square miles, by late Sunday.

However, burnout operations helped crews combat the fire, which was consuming 5,700 acres in and near the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, NBC News reported.

Although winds had decreased since the weekend, officials said the temperature and humidity were not ideal. Weather.com predicted that temperatures in the area would soar to 98 degrees Monday.

Fortunately, firefighters were able to take advantage of winds from the northwest to conduct burnout operations and strengthen containment lines on the fire's western flank. Officials did this by using the winds "to blow the fire ... back onto itself," Dyson said.

Firefighters also are strengthening lines on the fire's other flanks, and Dyson said fire officials are telling residents "not to be concerned" by all the smoke from burnout operations.

Until the burnout operations are completed either late Monday or Tuesday, "we're still not real secure," Dyson said.

Officials believe the fire is man-made. It is under investigation.

Three neighborhoods -- Red Cabin Ranch, Carlock Ranch and Whiting -- remained under evacuation orders, while a Red Cross shelter was established last week for the two dozen displaced residents.

Fire managers who have been working on a blaze for the last two weeks on the Navajo Reservation near the Arizona-New Mexico line said Sunday that smoke from pockets of unburned fuel within the interior of that fire will likely continue unless a lot of rain falls on it.