Historic lodge on Grand Canyon North Rim destroyed by wildfire
The lodge, which opened in 1937, was about five-and-a-half hours north of metro Phoenix and was the only hotel located inside the national park at the North Rim. There are a few other hotels near the main visitor hub of the North Rim, and they are at least a dozen miles farther from the canyon's edge.
The lodge building was made of a limestone façade that was sourced nearby, and massive ponderosa pine trees were turned into support beams to hold up a sloped roof capable of supporting heavy loads of snow, according to the National Park Service. The property consisted of a main lodge building with 23 deluxe cabins and over 90 regular cabins.
The original lodge that opened in the late 1920s burned down in a fire in September 1932. That fire destroyed the lodge within minutes, sending the lodge's staff fleeing in the early morning hours, according to the National Park Service.
The original North Rim lodge was built in part for the Union Pacific Railroad, which quickly reestablished a cafeteria and recreation hall after the 1932 fire, according to the National Park Service.
The new lodge sat on the foundation of the former and used many of the original's materials, but was scaled back in its design, removing a second story and observation tower that were part of the original, according to the National Park Service.
Architect Gilber Stanely Underwood followed National Park Service guidelines that required buildings to represent their environment. The lodge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, according to the National Park Service.
'We are devastated by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge'
Among the amenities typical of a hotel, the lodge complex included a saloon, a deli, a coffee shop, a post office, a gift shop, and a visitors center. They were all in operation before wildfire closed the North Rim to visitors, according to the National Park Service.
The Grand Canyon Lodge was operated by Aramark for the National Park Service.
"We are devastated by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge and numerous other historic buildings at the Grand Canyon's North Rim," said Debbie Albert, an Aramark spokesperson. "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."
Wildfire had burned between 50 and 80 structures on the North Rim, according to park officials.
The inner canyon, including Phantom Ranch, was closed, as were trails to the inner canyon, because a water treatment facility on the North Rim was damaged by fire and was leaking chlorine gas, park officials said. Chlorine gas is toxic and is heavier than air, meaning it could settle into the lower part of the canyon.
Park officials said the gas leak prevented fire retardant from being dropped and forced firefighting personnel to evacuate.
The North and South Kaibab Trails, as well as the Bright Angel Trail below Havasupai Gardens, were closed to hikers.
White Sage, Dragon Bravo wildfires burning on the North Rim
Two wildfires burning around 30 miles apart to the north of the Grand Canyon had grown to over 45,000 acres by July 13, according to state and federal fire officials.
A vast area had been put under evacuation orders, the Kaibab Plateau from the Utah-Arizona line down to the Grand Canyon. Fire crews urged the public to avoid the area. Highway 89A was closed at Fredonia and Bitter Springs.
The farther north of the two fires, the White Sage Fire, had burned 40,126 acres. Smoke was first reported on the evening of July 9, after a thunderstorm. The fire was sparked by lightning and intensified by strong winds and low relative humidity, according to InciWeb. It burned through grass, shrubs, and native pinyon-juniper trees, the BLM reported.
The Dragon Bravo Fire, burning to the south within Grand Canyon National Park, reached 5,000 acres according to InciWeb, a federal government wildfire tracker.
The Dragon Bravo Fire was responsible for burning the North Rim structures, including the historic lodge. Hot, dry, and windy conditions fueled its growth, with flames spreading through mixed conifer, aspen, and ponderosa pine forests, according to InciWeb.
Over 500 fire personnel were assigned to the White Sage fire, while 70 were assigned to the Dragon Bravo Fire. Both fires remained at 0% containment on the morning of July 13.
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- Travel + Leisure
Wildfire Forces Full Closure of Grand Canyon's North Rim for Summer 2025
Each year, nearly 5 million visitors are drawn to the staggering vistas of Grand Canyon National Park—many arriving during the heart of summer. But on July 13, the park's remote North Rim closed for the remainder of the summer 2025 season due to a wildfire that consumed Grand Canyon Lodge, the only in-park lodging on the North Rim, and several other structures. The fire has also led to the closure of all the park's inner canyon corridor trails and campgrounds. Officials have not yet announced when access will be restored. A July 13 news release from the National Park Service reported both the complete loss of the lodge and the closure of the North Rim, including popular inner-canyon trails like North Kaibab Trail, South Kaibab Trail, and Bright Angel Trail below Havasupai Gardens. Phantom Ranch, a historic lodge at the base of the canyon that many visitors hike to, is also closed until further notice. The more visited South Rim part of the park remains open. According to the Grand Canyon National Park website, the North Rim is visited by only 10 percent of all park visitors. The fire, called the Dragon Bravo Fire, began on July 4 as a result of a lightning strike within Grand Canyon National Park. It was originally well confined and contained, but on the evening of July 12, it progressed rapidly due to 20 m.p.h. winds and gusts reaching up to 40 m.p.h. According to reporting by the Associated Press, the fire grew by nearly eight times within a day and has currently consumed over 70 structures, including several historic cabins, employee housing, administrative offices, and visitor facilities. The North Rim's only lodge, the now destroyed Grand Canyon Lodge, was originally built in 1928 before being burned down in 1932 and reconstructed in 1937. A water treatment facility on the North Rim was also damaged, releasing chlorine gas the afternoon of July 12, according to the U.S. government's wildland fire information portal. No injuries or loss of life have been reported and everyone has been evacuated. 'The fire is being managed with an aggressive full suppression strategy. Fire behavior is still very active, driven by hot temperatures, low relative humidity, and continued strong wind gusts,' stated the July 13 press release. At the time of publication the fire has spread across 8,570 acres and is 0 percent contained, according to
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Fire crews along Grand Canyon are trying to save cabins after loss of historic lodge
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Crews fighting a wildfire that destroyed the nearly century-old Grand Canyon Lodge and a visitors center were focused Tuesday on stopping the flames from consuming nearby cabins, mule stables and other structures, fire officials said. Firefighters are dealing with a pair of wildfires along the park's less-visited North Rim that together have burned through more than 90 square miles (233 kilometers). That's more than twice the size of the entire Walt Disney World complex in Florida. Each blaze grew overnight into Tuesday, but fire officials expressed optimism that they had slowed the spread of the White Sage Fire, the larger of the two. Tourists standing along the park's popular South Rim on Tuesday could see plumes of smoke rising above the canyon walls and a haze hanging over the sweeping vista. 'By the afternoon, it was completely socked in,' Christi Anderson said of the smoke that had filled the canyon the day before. 'You couldn't see anything, none of that. It was crazy.' Anderson was visiting from California and considered herself lucky because she had shifted her reservation to the South Rim in the preceding days. Otherwise she would have been among those forced to evacuate. The Dragon Bravo Fire, ignited by a lightning strike on July 4, destroyed the lodge and dozens of cabins over the weekend. That fire had been allowed to burn for days before strong winds caused it to erupt, leading to questions about the National Park Service's decision not to aggressively attack the fire right away. Four days into the fire, the Park Service said it was being allowed to burn to benefit the land. Then on Friday, fire officials and the Park Service warned visitors to evacuate immediately as the fire grew by nearly eight times within a day. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has called for a federal investigation into the Park Service's handling of the fire and plans to meet with leaders from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, her office said. U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego have asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum how the administration plans to track wildfire decision-making under a recent executive order to consolidate federal firefighting forces into a single program. The Associated Press has left phone and email messages with Park Service officials seeking comment about how the fire was managed. Over the years, managers at the Grand Canyon have successfully used fire to benefit the landscape, with the park having what some experts say is an exemplary fire management program that has tapped both prescribed fire and wildfires to improve forest health. Andi Thode, a professor of fire ecology and management at Northern Arizona University and the lead at the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, said park managers have even re-burned some areas in multiple places over the years to create what she called 'one of the best jigsaw puzzles' on public land. She noted that fire behavior decreased significantly when the Dragon Bravo Fire burned into the footprint of a previously burned area. 'So creating that heterogeneity across the landscape, using fire is a really critical tool moving forward to be able to help in the future with these wildfire events that are happening at the worst time in the worst weather conditions with the driest fuels,' Thode said. Fire officials on Tuesday said the Dragon Bravo Fire had spread to nearly 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) while the larger White Sage Fire had charred 81 square miles (210 square kilometers). Neither blaze had any containment. Park officials have closed access to the North Rim, a more isolated area that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon's millions of annual visitors. Hikers in the area were evacuated and rafters on the Colorado River, which snakes through the canyon, were told to bypass Phantom Ranch, an outpost of cabins and dormitories. Trails to the area from the canyon's North and South rims also were closed. The Dragon Bravo Fire flared up Saturday night, fueled by high winds. Firefighters used aerial fire retardant drops near the lodge before they had to pull back because of a chlorine gas leak at a water treatment plant, the park service said. ___ Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Christopher Keller and Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
Washington Post
18 hours ago
- Washington Post
Fire crews along Grand Canyon are trying to save cabins after loss of historic lodge
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — Crews fighting a wildfire that destroyed the nearly century-old Grand Canyon Lodge and a visitors center were focused Tuesday on stopping the flames from consuming nearby cabins, mule stables and other structures, fire officials said. Firefighters are dealing with a pair of wildfires along the park's less-visited North Rim that together have burned through more than 90 square miles (233 kilometers). That's more than twice the size of the entire Walt Disney World complex in Florida. Each blaze grew overnight into Tuesday, but fire officials expressed optimism that they had slowed the spread of the White Sage Fire, the larger of the two. Tourists standing along the park's popular South Rim on Tuesday could see plumes of smoke rising above the canyon walls and a haze hanging over the sweeping vista. 'By the afternoon, it was completely socked in,' Christi Anderson said of the smoke that had filled the canyon the day before. 'You couldn't see anything, none of that. It was crazy.' Anderson was visiting from California and considered herself lucky because she had shifted her reservation to the South Rim in the preceding days. Otherwise she would have been among those forced to evacuate. The Dragon Bravo Fire, ignited by a lightning strike on July 4, destroyed the lodge and dozens of cabins over the weekend. That fire had been allowed to burn for days before strong winds caused it to erupt, leading to questions about the National Park Service's decision not to aggressively attack the fire right away. Four days into the fire, the Park Service said it was being allowed to burn to benefit the land. Then on Friday, fire officials and the Park Service warned visitors to evacuate immediately as the fire grew by nearly eight times within a day. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has called for a federal investigation into the Park Service's handling of the fire and plans to meet with leaders from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, her office said. U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego have asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum how the administration plans to track wildfire decision-making under a recent executive order to consolidate federal firefighting forces into a single program. The Associated Press has left phone and email messages with Park Service officials seeking comment about how the fire was managed. Over the years, managers at the Grand Canyon have successfully used fire to benefit the landscape, with the park having what some experts say is an exemplary fire management program that has tapped both prescribed fire and wildfires to improve forest health. Andi Thode, a professor of fire ecology and management at Northern Arizona University and the lead at the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, said park managers have even re-burned some areas in multiple places over the years to create what she called 'one of the best jigsaw puzzles' on public land. She noted that fire behavior decreased significantly when the Dragon Bravo Fire burned into the footprint of a previously burned area. 'So creating that heterogeneity across the landscape, using fire is a really critical tool moving forward to be able to help in the future with these wildfire events that are happening at the worst time in the worst weather conditions with the driest fuels,' Thode said. Fire officials on Tuesday said the Dragon Bravo Fire had spread to nearly 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) while the larger White Sage Fire had charred 81 square miles (210 square kilometers). Neither blaze had any containment. Park officials have closed access to the North Rim, a more isolated area that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon's millions of annual visitors . Hikers in the area were evacuated and rafters on the Colorado River, which snakes through the canyon, were told to bypass Phantom Ranch, an outpost of cabins and dormitories. Trails to the area from the canyon's North and South rims also were closed. The Dragon Bravo Fire flared up Saturday night, fueled by high winds. Firefighters used aerial fire retardant drops near the lodge before they had to pull back because of a chlorine gas leak at a water treatment plant, the park service said. ___ Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Christopher Keller and Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
