An evergreen tree and waterfalls stand out Monday from the blackened forest that was burned during the ongoing fire along the Gunflint Trail northwest of Grand Marais, Minn. The 10-day-old fire has burned more than 93 square miles of forest in northern Minnesota and Canada.

Grand Marais, Minn. ? Cooler, wetter weather caused the Ham Lake fire in northern Minnesota to “lay down” Monday, giving firefighters a chance to strengthen containment lines and raising hopes that more structure losses won’t occur, officials said.

The firefighting effort was blessed with temperatures in the 60s, higher humidity and the after-effects of rain overnight Sunday, officials said.

That rain, which ranged from one-tenth of an inch on the dead end of the Gunflint trail, to a half inch at its midpoint, came with a downside: many lightning strikes.

District Forest Ranger Mark VanEvery said the lightning appeared to have caused at least one additional fire near Sawbill Lake. However, that fire was extinguished quickly.

Additional cabins and other buildings owned by Americans have been lost in recent days on the Canadian side of the Ham Lake wildfire, VanEvery said. He noted that the 133 buildings lost was the official count for the American side of the 93.1-square-mile fire.

Nine other cabins owned by Americans have burned on the Canadian side of Gunflint Lake and an undetermined number apparently burned on Red Pine Island on the Canadian side of Saganaga Lake, he said.

The weather forecast for Monday was a mixed blessing: scattered showers and thunderstorms but breezy with a high of 75 degrees.

While the fire remained very active on its northern fringes, which are now well into Canada, the good news is that the lines are holding well on the west and that the weather is allowing more aggressive firefighting, he said.

VanEvery said that a “burnout operation” on the southeastern finger of fire, which crossed the Gunflint Trail, was successful and that another was planned. The fire is now considered 20 percent contained, and the weather was expected to help determine whether firefighters can make progress.

“We’re making good progress,” VanEvery told a public meeting Monday morning, “but sometimes the fire pushes the finish line farther out.”

The Ham Lake fire has been raging since May 5 when it apparently started near a campsite on the edge of the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. It has cost nearly $4 million and has destroyed 134 cabins, homes, garages and outbuildings. Seven hundred firefighters are battling the blaze on the U.S. side of the border.