Gov. Katie Hobbs landed about 25 miles north of the rim near De Motte Campground and first toured the fire camp, where fire personnel were staged, on July 19, 2025.

Partial blue skies in the morning allowed many park visitors to ignore fires on the North Rim. By afternoon, ashfall made for a different story.

The Grand Canyon Lodge was the park's one and only hotel, according the National Park Service, with the next nearest lodgings roughly 18 miles away.

The Dragon Bravo Fire destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge and continues to burn. See the devastation, plus readers share memories of the lodge.

The building was surrounded by vegetation on fire when a team of "helitack" firefighters arrived to protect the area on Tuesday. Grand Canyon National Park officials said the crews knew if the pump house fell, the consequences could cripple park operations for months.

"Though it was definitely not your average vacation trip, everything worked out okay. We made the best of it," Russ Christian said.

Gov. Katie Hobbs questioned the federal government's handling of the Dragon Bravo Fire, which destroyed numerous structures on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. land managers are racing the clock as hotter, drier weather raises the risk of wildfires in the nation’s overgrown forests with each passing year.