The South rim is open. Over 70 structures on the North rim are destroyed.
There is already a lot of finger pointing at a decision by the park service to let a fire proceed as a managed burn that got out of control.
The resultant fire destroyed the historic lodge, guest lodges, camping area, and all the buildings.
I was planning a trip to the north rim and might have been there but I was not feeling well.
Historic Lodge Gone
AZFamily reports Dragon Bravo Fire Destroys Over 70 Structures at Grand Canyon
A historic lodge on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim is among more than 70 structures lost as a result of a fast-moving wildfire that continues to burn out of control.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has called for an independent probe into the management of Dragon Bravo Fire because, she says, despite the blaze being lightning-caused, the federal government decided to failed to manage it “during the driest, hardest part of the Arizona summer.”
“I am calling for the federal government to conduct a comprehensive, thorough, and independent investigation into the management of the Dragon Bravo Fire, and to produce a report detailing the decisions that led to this devastating outcome,” the governor said.
The Dragon Bravo Fire has scorched approximately 9,289 acres as of Wednesday, July 16. It’s still at 0% containment. Nearly 529 firefighters are battling the wildfire.
Clarification: An earlier version of this story described the initial fire management strategy as a “controlled burn.” It has been updated to reflect the terminology used by the U.S. Department of the Interior, including “confine and contain,” to more accurately describe the response and avoid confusion about the fire’s origin, which was sparked by lightning.
Toxic Gas Leak
Live Science reports Grand Canyon Dragon wildfire burns down historic lodge and triggers toxic gas leak
Firefighters were managing the Dragon Bravo Fire, started by a lightning strike, when an uncommonly strong gust of wind pushed the fire beyond multiple containment features on Friday (July 11), according to InciWeb, the U.S. government’s incident information management system website.
The Dragon Bravo Fire began on July 4 and was initially managed as part of a confine and contain strategy. However, the fire has been growing at night, when visibility is reduced and firefighters can’t use aerial resources to drop fire retardant and water on the fire, according to InciWeb.
The fires also damaged a nearby water treatment facility, which released toxic chlorine gas. The gas leak meant firefighters had to evacuate from critical zones near the fire, according to the NPS statement.
“With continued active fire behavior and ongoing risks to personnel and infrastructure, the North Rim will remain closed to all visitor access for the remainder of the 2025 season,” NPS representatives wrote.
I love the North Rim. So far, my two favorite areas have not been hit, Point Imperial and Cape Royal.
But it will likely be years before the North Rim has any lodging.
It’s a long way for a day trip.
South Rim Open for Business Despite Fires
“We’re very mindful and sensitive to what’s going on in the North Rim, but we know how people from all over our country and all over the world, that their destination is the Grand Canyon,” Tusayan Mayor Clarinda Vail told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Tuesday. “And so we still want them to be able to come and see the Grand Canyon.”
My advice, don’t go.
I have seen the canyon when it fills up with smoke, and it stinks to say the least. Visibility is poor, so you can rule out getting good images.
But if you cannot cancel, make the best of it.
Surrounded by Fire
The Forsyth fire is due north of us. The France Canyon is northeast of us. The White Sage and Dragon Bravo fires are southeast of us. Their is a fire in Nevada west of us and other fires in Utah and Colorado north and northeast of us.
The air quality and visibility around St. George has been bad for nearly a month, starting June 19.
The Forsyth Fire was started by lightning and has been burning since June 19 near Pine Valley, Utah, about 30 miles north of St. George.
18 structures including 14 homes were destroyed in or near Pine Valley, Utah.
Best Wishes to All Impacted
I am very saddened by the destruction in these fires.
Hoping for some monsoon rains, but we have not had rain in St. George for a long time.
Pine Valley and the areas near the Grand Canyon are badly in need of rain.
Best wishes to all.
Been to the South Rim twice. First time, no lightning but standing at one of the overlooks, when i put my arm out over the fence, the hairs on my arm stood up. It was August and the temperature dropped quite dramatically due to the accumulating clouds.
Speaking of rebuilding, the Palisades Fire passed the 6 month mark, July 7. Less than 100 permits have been granted to rebuild the 7,000 structures lost in the fire. Was at a wedding last weekend and met someone affected by the Altadena fire.
Indian build small fire and stand close. White man build big fire and stand far away.
it’s high desert and prone to wildfire. Some plants never sprout without the heat so it will be different, probably better in the long run. It’s not a painting-its a dynamic ecosystem and lightning is a natural event. Chlorine gas however, is not
no shortage of rumors about what goes on in the canyon – if any are accurate, it could be the lodge was torched with intent to reduce public access to the canyon – they’ve done worse
It is pretty well understood what happened.
Lightning strike, big wind shift, strong winds that disabled helicopters, a disaster with chlorine
No, the containment strategy is a failed method that is constantly practiced with a devastating outcome.
Wouldn’t stay there or even eat there as it’s priced up for the elite.
good point. they are tourist traps, no different than most tourist traps in amerika.
if really interested the watchduty app has all the latest info. says se corner got showers yesterday
Donald I as president is responsible.
The USDA is the lead department that supervises the US Forest Service so it is part of the Executive branch. If the same logic is transferred to Donald I that he correctly applied to Newsome then what is good for the goose so is for the gander.
I stubbed my toe this morning. It was Trump’s fault.
Logic is your weakness. As I recall the straw man argument or proxy for the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz as a farmer also needed assistance in understanding his plight till he was fooled by the wizard into thinking that the scarecrow got a brain but in fact already had one!
Try exercising your inductive and deductive reasoning skills. Most of us have them.
Newsom is governor of CA not AZ
See below link as to the fire I was referring to regarding Newsome accountability.
The Grand Canyon is a national park, ergo the U S Forest is responsible for fire containment which falls under the Executive branch or Donald I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palisades_Fire
We’ve been getting fairly heavy rain south of the Canyon for the past couple of days that is projected to continue for a few more days. NWS shows that monsoon activity is good for the North Rim area for the next few days also, although the area is vast and there’s no predicting if any rains will even be over the fire site. Hopefully the cooler weather systems will assist personnel on the ground and some of the storms will pivot just a bit north and even cross into Utah and hit the southeast corner.
It is a tragedy that the lodge is gone and I’m sad that in the last 30 years I was never able to visit, even though I am in the area (Jacob Lake) at least twice a year.
Mish is right that it will take years to rebuild. The North Rim is usually closed to visitors from 11/1 to 4/1 each year due to snow conditions, so even specially permitted construction activity would face extreme difficulties during the winter months and would have to work 24/7 during the summer season to achieve anything at all.
My guess is that with extraordinaily fast-tracked work by all parties involved, there is a chance that new lodging would be available by 2030 or so. And we all know (sadly) that this won’t be a fast-tracked item in any entities agenda. So camping during the summer months will be your only option for the next several years.
For those interested in the (former) lodge, check out: https://www.grandcanyonnorth.com/
Arrivederci North Lodge (and especially the Sun Room)!
Thanks
Sad to see it happen.
It was originally built in the 1920s and burned down in the 1930s. I have to think if they could build it back then it would be easier to rebuild with the equipment and technology now.
Still kicking myself for selling my trailer in Oak Creek Canyon.
The lodge being gone is really the end of an era. Sad times.
I was at the south rim all day yesterday. The smoke was very evident and one could feel the burn in your eyes, but it also rained so that helped a bit. There were not overwhelming crowds there.
Most wildfire folks don’t use the term “controlled burn” because they Offen are not “controlled “. The replacement term is “ prescribed burn”
It was a lightning strike that they decided to allow to burn as a controlled burn. Wind change ruined that overnight.
It was such a beautiful building I don’t think anybody will ever rebuild in that old way again.
This is a devastating piece of news. We have visited that Lodge, years ago in our BUS where we parked in Flagstaff and drove our Tow Car (Honda, light) to the rim and checked it out.
I have a contrary view to most on Governments. I want them to PROTECT US FROM EVIL FOREIGN actors, and not be OFFENSIVELY acting at a nearly 95% level in the world (I am guessing, how knows for sure, but TRILLIONS have been spent in Iraq, Ukraine, etc and Gaza is likely gonna be BILLIONS at least. This all started with Bush.
My contrary view is mounting: THE GOVERNMENTS, state, Local and Federal, can only do SO MUCH when it comes to wildfires, tornado’s, Floods, etc. Whenever ANYTHING goes wrong, the Government is always called upon as a BLAME POINT.
We have become complacent. LET’S all transition to a point of having SMALLER GOVERNMENT, less Regulatory CONSTRAINTS to progress (Permitting, for example, has delayed a HUGE Multi-Million Dollar deal that I am in on for over 18 months, after we secured the Money and had it ready to be spent). WITH those delays, our project is now going to cost, at the very least 15% more than two years ago. THAT is government in our way.
As to floods, all we have heard with the Texas mess is how to blame local Authorities for NOT warning people. Look, everyone, the Government bodies are inhabited by GRIFTERS.
With that in mind, we also must realize that Fire Depts, and Wildland Firefighters are often over-restricted by Regulations and FIRES GO OUT OF CONTROL. There is likely SOME of that going on in Yellowstone.
One of my kids is a HOTSHOT FIREFIGHTER and is now applying for Captain at his Fire Dept near SF. He tells me that when they first meet with local Fire fighters that there is ALWAYS some local Politician running resistance points to Grand Stand in front of news people. My son has said that his BRIGADE CAPTAIN has yelled at Politicians in PRE-FIGHT meetings (you know, FIRE ASSESSMENT BOUNDARY work, the ACTUAL WORK of going to the battle lines to stop a big fire.
My son recalls at least 50 plus Politicians grand-standing, not allowing them to get to work. I would guess that this happened (look at all of the confusion about the news). THIS IS NORMAL now.
You are so correct about government.
It’s funny how so many will come on here and rant about how various person(s) in the government are incompetent/senile/useless etc in one breath. Then in the next expect that same government made up of countless such people to save them/the world from every disaster as if they are some omnipotent god and get angry when it doesn’t happen.
The real world is chaotic. No entity can save everyone 100% of the time. That’s the fallacy people believe every time they clamor for more governmental control over things.
truth
Are you also on board at reducing the size of Google, Apple, the billionaire class, the defense department, the banksters, munitions manufacturers, Palantir, Musk, etc., that are in the main central planners that have taken the US into a plutocracy and empire since as you correctly note that politicians are the problem if nearly all politicians are bought and paid for at the local, state and national levels?
Oh my. let me guess: the land will be used for low cost housing for ‘immigrants’, sold off to an NGO, or ‘leased’ to a group of wealthy investors for redevelopment like, say, Lahaina or Pacific Palisades. Boy, this game of three card monty never gets old…
You mean like the Mexicans who just last week volunteered to come up to find bodies in Texas? Or the ones who came to fight the wildfire in LA? Are those the ‘immigrants’ you mean Bob?
Maybe they wouldn’t have to come up here weekly if we had any control over our dysfunctional land management that we’re trying to cut further.
i’ve lived in many places on this continent. the western fires are the most horrible. when the air is bad for weeks at a time, there is nothing worse for one’s health and contentment. hurricane alley or ice storms or dust storms in desert are walks in the park in comparison. it’s just not fit for mankind to settle in dry forests. why the native indians in those parts mostly moved around and set fires themselves………..
We have lived at 6500 Feet in Norcal and we had SUMMER FIRES all of the time. The joy drained out of us, even though it was SO pretty up there near Mt Lassen. We were essentially forced to move out and sell a nice home with acreage and local Band members I Played with because we felt that it was OUR PLACE NEXT to burn.
In 2008, a local fire broke out: BURNING debris was falling in my front yard. That scared the shit out of us. We loaded up the Bus, and my wife drove our Jeep and a cargo trailer out that night at 3am. THEY CONTAINED IT and my Son was on that crew.
We sold our home in 2009 and never looked back. That small town still stands but it is a matter of when, not if it will eventually burn! SAD!
correct. i agree. lived all over this continent. the best air is ocean front. the worst air is out west in dry forest. lived up in nor cal on border of wine country and redwood forest for a short stint. summer of 2020 was brutal. i believe the worst since the 1930s. glad to have left early 2021. brooklyn ny the air is clean as it’s ocean breeze in south brooklyn. now up on the hudson. i do miss living on ocean which i did most of my life. northeast, southeast and in bay area, CA
King Chaos fiddles with the rest of the world as the North Rim burns.
We were at the North Rim this past September. We stayed in Page Arizona.The drive from Page is fantastic.
It is wonderful there.
United States should reverse decision of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Following disasters in a few months time.
LA fire
Texas flood
Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim Fire
SAVE THE WORLD
Are you suggesting cause and effect?
I think they are living in TVLand where Carbon Dioxide is not plant food or the gas of life.
Interesting:
the same crew believes that
“weather and climate cannot be affected by human activity”
“there have always been cycles of heat/cold and dry/wet”
also believe
“there is a guy with a box, somwhere/somehow, controlling flooding rains”
“there have always been cycles of heat/cold and dry/wet”
True, see Chapter 11 in The Long Summer by Brian Fagan.
The Medieval Warm Period in Europe coincided with prolonged drought from CA all the way to South America.
We prefer going to the north rim. It is so, so sad that this has happened.
Thoughts and prayers?
America is in terminal collapse.
Sad indeed. The north rim was simply sublime and had fewer visitors. In fall, after the tourists left, it was wonderful to travel through and hike during full moons even when it closed. Back in the day it was hardly patrolled.
At least I have my old photos and memories.
String Beans to Utah!
FZ…
>
It is so sad.
I was at Canyonlands last week. It was quite dramatic and quite excellent air quality.
A shame. As is this:
“US set to destroy 500 tons of US-taxpayer funded emergency food”
“…meant for starving people around the world…sitting for months in a warehouse in Dubai…will have to be destroyed – at an extra $100,000 charge to the American taxpayers.”
“USAID has had to destroy commodities under previous administrations with similar circumstances – this is not unique,”the spokesperson said.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/politics/us-destroy-500-tons-us-taxpayer-funded-food
“the Atlantic report cited ‘several aid workers’ (unnamed) who directly contradicted this assertion, saying they had “never before seen the U.S. government simply give up on food that could have been put to good use.”
https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/07/16/trump-admin-incinerate-food/
“The Dragon Bravo Fire began on July 4 and was initially managed as part of a confine and contain strategy.”
This is why you have not heard more about this fire. Complete federal government malfeasance that they can’t blame it on budget cuts. That is why the puss-bellied, big government worshipping, mainstream media are not talking about it. What do you want to bet that nobody is fired, perhaps some are reassigned or retire early.
In what universe does a fire manager or managers take this sort of risk? Winds are part of the weather in these parts. This is a park not a remote national forest.
Shameful.
Perhaps we should reserve judgement. You are why we have rule of law.
Hahahahahahaahaahaha!!!
Rule of Law?
A twenty-year+ child molestation scandal committed by the elitists in power rages across America and goes without punishment, and without investigation, and then gets deep-sixed.
This following four+ years of medical malfeasance and coerced treatment, destroying businesses and lives around the globe.
And more recently, the USA government is aiding a televised genocide, while also illegally and inhumanely bombing Yemen, Iran, and Somalia.
Yeah, rule of law you say? Unbelievable.
I made the same points. We MUST realize that Wildfire fighting has become POLITICIZED and this is a shame. Fed and POLITICAL types need to get the EFF out the way.
This should’ve been bigger News today…
maybe tomorrow(?)
Thanks for the article, Mish.
Around 250 Epstein victims have settled civil lawsuits with Epstein’s banks which serviced his accounts; bank such as JP Morgan and HSBC.
The payouts from these settlements total to 807 million dollars, and there are still more pending.
We know many of his clients names, though we will likely never see justice for them in this world.
Regarding Maxwell, I wouldn’t trust a word from her forked tongue
Running over 20 years with hundreds and hundreds of victims.
Presidents, Princes, CEOs, CFOs, Actors, Billionaires, Judges, etc were trapped.
Sorry to say but its real.
USA is run by Pedophile ring.
art of war, is mostly a book about using spies, like pawns, to win wars. this kind of psychopath honey pot of pederasts ain’t anything new. it’s just reality of another crumbling evil empire.
It boggles the mind.
Leon Black
the el tovar has great memories for us as long time AZ residents………
El Tovar is on the South Rim
that is correct
Very sad, very sad indeed. I’m glad you were not there Mish.
Thanks
No one was killed so I would have been OK.
lived out west quarter of century. northern CA summer of 2020 the worst fire season since 1930s. just brutal. now i’m back east living in hudson valley. like norcal in fact. just no fires. charleston sc the most delightful town we lived for a decade.
My niece and her family from Queensland were there on vacation just last week….