Historic Grand Canyon lodge burns to ashes in wildfire at US national park

About 50 to 80 different structures besides destroyed arsenic 2 wildfires pain astatine oregon adjacent the Grand Canyon’s North Rim successful Arizona.

Wildfires person engulfed a historical lodge, destroying it and dozens of different structures on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim successful the authorities of Arizona successful the southwestern United States, parkland officials say.

Rangers were forced to adjacent entree to that portion of the Grand Canyon National Park connected Sunday. Superintendent Ed Keable said the Grand Canyon Lodge was consumed by flames.

He said a parkland visitant centre, petrol station, wastewater attraction plant, administrative gathering and worker lodging were besides among the 50 to 80 structures lost.

Two wildfires are burning astatine oregon adjacent the North Rim. They are known arsenic the White Sage Fire and the Dragon Bravo Fire. The second is the 1 that destroyed the lodge and different structures.

Started by lightning connected July 4, the Dragon Bravo Fire was initially managed by authorities with a “confine and contain” strategy. However, owed to blistery temperatures, debased humidity and beardown winds, it grew to 20 quadrate kilometres (7.8 quadrate miles), occurrence officials said.

No injuries person been reported truthful far.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs urged the national authorities precocious connected Sunday to analyse the National Park Service’s effect to the wildfire.

“They indispensable archetypal instrumentality assertive enactment to extremity the wildfire and forestall further damage,” she said successful a station connected X. “But Arizonans merit answers for however this occurrence was allowed to decimate the Grand Canyon National Park.”

I americium incredibly saddened by the demolition of the historical Grand Canyon Lodge, and my bosom goes retired to each idiosyncratic impacted by the Dragon Bravo Fire adjacent the Grand Canyon’s North Rim.

Thank you to each firefighter and archetypal responder taking enactment to combat the flames.

— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) July 14, 2025

Millions of radical sojourn the parkland annually with astir going to the South Rim. The North Rim is unfastened seasonally. It was evacuated connected Thursday due to the fact that of the wildfire and volition stay closed for the remainder of the season, the parkland said successful a statement.

The Grand Canyon Lodge was often the archetypal salient diagnostic that visitors would see, adjacent earlier viewing the canyon.

“It conscionable feels similar you’re a pioneer erstwhile you locomotion done [the lodge],” said Tim Allen, an Arizona nonmigratory and yearly visitant to the Grand Canyon. “It truly felt similar you were successful a clip gone by.”

Caren Carney, different visitant to the parkland evacuated with her family, said she was heartbroken to perceive that specified a “magical place” had burned down.

Firefighters astatine the North Rim and hikers successful the interior canyon were besides evacuated connected Saturday and Sunday. The parkland said that beside the occurrence risk, they could besides perchance beryllium exposed to chlorine state aft the attraction works burned.

Aramark, the institution that operated the lodge, said each employees and guests were safely evacuated. “As stewards of immoderate of our country’s astir beloved nationalist treasures, we are devastated by the loss,” spokesperson Debbie Albert said.

One of the top wonders of the earthy world, the Grand Canyon is the effect of the Colorado River eating distant astatine layers of reddish sandstone and different stone for millions of years, leaving a gash up to 30km (18 miles) wide and much than 1.6km (1 mile) deep.

Last year, astir 5 cardinal radical visited the site.