Arizona wildfires being managed with ‘aggressive strategy’ as North Rim of Grand Canyon now closed for 2025: Latest

Visitors of a historic lodge on the Grand Canyon's North Rim have expressed their heartbreak online, after the structure was destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire.

“This is a devastating loss for park employees, all of us who’ve had the pleasure of staying here, and everyone who will never get a chance to see it,” one user wrote, after the National Park announced the news Sunday.

The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, according to park Superintendent Ed Keeble. He added that the visitor center, the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and some employee housing also were lost to the flames.

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Visitors and staff at two national parks in the U.S. West have been evacuated because of wildfires.

The Grand Canyon's North Rim in Arizona closed Thursday because of a wildfire on adjacent Bureau of Land Management land near Jacob Lake that began Wednesday evening after a thunderstorm moved through the area.

The Coconino County Sheriff's Office said it helped evacuate people from an area north of Jacob Lake and campers in the Kaibab National Forest nearby. The fire burned about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers) with zero containment.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, about 260 miles (418 kilometers) southwest of Denver, also closed Thursday morning after lightning sparked blazes on both rims, the park said.

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The Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires have prompted closures across the northern edge of Grand Canyon National Park.

The closures include call of the inner corridor hiking trails, all campgrounds and all other interior areas including the North and South Kaibab Trails, the Phantom Ranch, and Bright Angel Trail below Havasupai Gardens, according to the NPS.

Senator Ruben Gallego and Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said they planned to investigate the National Parks Service’s early response to the Drago Bravo fire to determine what impact, if any, it had on the blaze’s eventually spread.

“Because of the Dragon Bravo Fire, Arizona lost more than a historic lodge, it lost a piece of our state history,” Gallego wrote on X. “As Governor Hobbs has rightly called for, there must be a comprehensive, independent investigation into the handling of fire and the rationale for treating it as a controlled burn— especially as Arizona experiences the driest, hardest part of summer. I will do my part on the federal level to get answers.”

The Grand Canyon Lodge was operated by a company called Aramark for the National Parks Service.

The company issued a statement acknowledging the burning of the lodge.

"We are devastated by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge and numerous other historic buildings at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim," Debbie Albert, an Aramark spokesperson, said. "We are grateful that all of our employees and guests have been safely evacuated, and we join the National Park Service in mourning the loss of these iconic and beloved structures."

Firefighting airplanes were used to drop approximately 180,000 gallons of fire retardant on the White Sage Fire to help support ground firefighting crews.

The White Sage fire is currently zero percent contained, and has spread across 49,286 acres. Approximately 500 responders have been deployed to fight the blaze.