Wildfires scorch 45,000 acres, prompt evacuations near Grand Canyon
July 13 (UPI) -- Two wildfires burning near the Grand Canyon have scorched more than 45,000 acres of tinder dry brush and vegetation and prompted evacuation orders for the Kaibab National Forest and north to the Utah border.
The Bureau of Land Management is coordinating with Coconino County fire officials on the evacuations of hundreds of people. Both fires continue to burn out of control and are 0% contained, officials said. Nearly 600 crews have been assigned to battle the fires.
At least 500 visitors were also evacuated from public park areas in the North Rim where the fires are burning.
The White Sage Fire has burned more than 40,000 acres near the canyon's North Rim while the Dragon Bravo Fire has burned more than 5,000 acres, state and federal fire officials reported Sunday.
Lighting from rogue thunderstorms sparked the White Sage Fire, which spread quickly among pinyon pine and juniper trees, fanned by gusty winds and low humidity.
"On the ground resources are now focusing on a full suppression strategy to protect structures in the North Rim developed area," Grand Canyon Park officials said on InciWeb.
Steep and rugged terrain creates a challenge for firefighters trying to reach the blazes and dry weather continues to pose challenges and a threat for the fires to spread further.
Park officials have said the closures are expected to last until Aug. 9 or until the fires are contained.
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Profile: Finding friendship and purpose in a common climate enemy: Ojas Sanghi leads the way For 71-year-old Carrie Rechenmacher, using the railing to make her way slowly down the stairs to the overlook, the fires in the distance are more concerning. This is the Floridian's third visit to the Grand Canyon — she's made the journey once each of the past three decades. And she's concerned about how the uptick in extreme weather events are disrupting life and iconic landscapes all over the world. "It has me a little worried," she said. "They had those floods in Texas, where people were camping. We were camping last night at a 'glamping' place, and I kept having a bad scenario in my head. Then there's the fires in California that just devastate and kill people. We used to think, well, that doesn't happen in America." Around 1 p.m., Rechenmacher's niece joined her at Mather Point and the two continued their travel plans to Sedona. They sky still showed patches of blue. By the time the sandwich shop closed its doors for the day at 5 p.m., the sun over the South Rim had been obscured by encroaching smoke. The last tourists filed back to their cars and next adventures, flipping on windshield wipers to clear the now-falling ash. Across the Canyon at the North Rim, the Dragon Bravo Fire breathed on. Do you have photos or video of the Grand Canyon Lodge to share on We'd love to see them and share with readers. Send it to us at our video-photo upload site. Joan Meiners is the climate news and storytelling reporter at The Arizona Republic and Her award-winning work has also appeared in Discover Magazine, National Geographic, ProPublica and the Washington Post Magazine. Before becoming a journalist, she completed a doctorate in ecology with a focus on native bees. Follow Joan on Twitter at @beecycles, on Bluesky @ or email her at This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: At Grand Canyon's South Rim, North Rim destruction is of little worry
