A wildfire that was burning more than 19,000 acres on Saturday forced the National Park Service to close an access point to the Grand Canyon National Park during the busy summer tourist season, officials said.
The fire, known as the White Sage fire, started on Wednesday evening with a lightning strike near Fredonia, Ariz., according to the Bureau of Land Management. As of Saturday, the fire had burned 19,153 acres and was zero percent contained.
The fire was not burning within Grand Canyon National Park, the park said.
The access point to the park, the North Rim, was closed starting on Thursday, and all visitors had to evacuate, according to a National Park Service news release.
The access site remained closed to visitors until further notice, the park said on Saturday on Facebook. The North Kaibab Trail was temporarily closed north of Manzanita Rest Area.
The North Rim, which is about 84 miles from the Utah border, is open seasonally and draws 10 percent of the visitors to the Grand Canyon. In 2024, nearly five million people visited the park.
Another fire, also started by lightning, was burning 5,000 acres inside of the Grand Canyon National Park.
That fire, the Dragon Bravo fire, started on July 4, according to a wildfire tracking website.
Containment of the Dragon Bravo fire on Saturday was at zero percent. Two helicopters were being brought in Saturday to help suppress the fire.
Smoke from the fire was visible from the South Rim, the park’s more popular access point, which remained open.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories.
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