The nation’s largest wildfire has spread to more than 126,000 acres in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, prompting nearby communities to declare transportation, supply and smoke emergencies.
The Dragon Bravo fire has been burning for more than a month, fueled by record-low humidity that has hampered containment efforts.
The mayor of Fredonia, Ariz., declared that his town of about 1,300 people just north of the park was facing a “significant and ongoing wildfire emergency” because of the fire. Businesses were struggling with supply chain interruptions, ranchers have been displaced and the tourism economy, dependent on more than one million annual visitors, is expected to suffer, according to the emergency declaration, which was issued on Monday.
The declaration called for better forest management of the Kaibab National Forest, reviving a criticism of the response to the Grand Canyon wildfire after Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona called for an investigation last month into why the federal government had decided to manage it as a “controlled burn.”
The local economies around Fredonia, Arizona’s northernmost town, and the Kanab area in southern Utah across the state line rely on visitors to the national park and have been affected by the closures along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim.
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