Wildfire destroys lodge, impacts tourism, businesses, jobs.
“A Game and Fish officer introduced himself and kindly explained that we needed to evacuate given the wildfires that surrounded us to the north and southwest,” she said. “It was surreal to pack up and begin our drive back in the middle of the night. I stopped and quietly said to our campsite, ‘Please don’t burn, you are too beautiful!’”
In the darkness, they learned Arizona Highway 89 to the west was already closed. As they drove to Marble Canyon, they saw other campers “set up at every turn out,” fleeing the fires.
The next day, Friday, July 11, Matthew Marciano was scheduled to serve guests at the Grand Canyon Lodge. About two hours before his shift was to begin, a staff meeting was called. “The guests had been evacuated the day before, so we found out we were going to have some time off because there were no guests to serve.”
Shortly after the meeting, Marciano received a group text to evacuate immediately. “We didn’t know the risk of the Dragon Bravo Fire at the time. The bigger concern was the White Sage Fire, and we thought our area was going to be safe,” he said. “As we were leaving, we saw that the other fire was picking up, it started getting scary as we got closer to the smoke. It was a surprise to all of us.”
By 10:30 p.m., Saturday night, July 12, the Dragon Bravo had intensified. Described as “extreme and volatile,” it destroyed about 70 structures, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge. The thunder of thick beams exploding into flames might only have been rivaled by the sound of hearts breaking as word spread throughout the region.
“We’re all heartbroken. It’s so tragic,” said Tusayan Mayor Clarinda Vale. “The lodge is such a special place. And who doesn’t love the North Rim?”
Economic Impact to Ripple Through Region
As shock of the loss continues to set in, so does the reality of the anticipated economic impact. On Sunday, July 13, the National Park Service announced the closure of the North Rim for the rest of the year, a closure that includes inner canyon trails and campgrounds.
“The Grand Canyon National Park is the crown jewel in Northern Arizona tourism and visitation, and losing North Rim operations for the remainder of 2025 will be a significant blow to park staff, tour operators, local Flagstaff businesses that support North Rim visitation and all of their families,” said Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Julie Pastrick.
Pastrick noted that the Flagstaff chamber is assessing local support mechanisms and a path forward to rebuild and bring back operations as quickly as possible. “It’s going to be a while, and many employees and their families are displaced. Our concerns are for them and their livelihoods. The entire event is very disconcerting when you think about the short- and long-term impacts to our community members across the region.”
Meanwhile, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is already feeling the heat. “We weren’t busy prior to the fires,” said Mayor Vale, “but now we are seeing cancellations because so many people are confused about the difference between the North Rim and the South Rim. We are trying to get the word out that the South Rim is open.”
The Lightning Strike that Scarred the Region
Dr. Wally Covington, Emeritus Regents Professor of Forest Ecology at Northern Arizona University and the man known around the globe as the “Father of Forest Restoration,” was having dinner with his wife, NAU Forestry Professor Dr. Margaret Moore, and their son, Jeffrey, at the North Rim Lodge on Thursday,
July 3.
“There was quite a thunderstorm. Lightning everywhere,” said Covington, founder of the Ecological Restoration Institute at NAU. “On July 4, you could see smoke coming up out of the forest. I understand what they [firefighters] were trying to do – to use the lighting strike under natural fire-use policy – but the topography is so dicey near the canyon and the winds are so unpredictable. It took a lot of chutzpah to not suppress the fires in the middle of fire season with the values at risk, not just old growth trees and the ecosystem, but also the lodge.”
The North Rim old growth is home to the rare Mexican spotted owl and the northern goshawk, and also the Kaibab squirrel, which is endemic to the Kaibab Plateau.
“Wind and fuel moisture played into it,” said NAU Fire Ecology Professor Dr. Andi Thode, leader of the Southwest Fire Science Consortium. “Around July 10 or so, the energy release component, burning index and vapor pressure deficit were bottomed out and poised to set all-time records,” she said. “That’s how thirsty the fuel was.”
She added that the North Rim is “one of the best jigsaw puzzles on public land” for using fire to reduce fuels and that the Dragon Bravo fire behavior significantly decreased when it hit a previously burned area.
With more than 126,000 acres scorched by the Dragon Bravo at the time of this printing, Covington notes the fire wasn’t very big, compared to the massive infernos that have burned Western landscapes in recent years. But, he notes, the area did have a lot of old growth trees. “You can’t replace 300- to 700-year-old trees overnight. We’ll be able to replace the lodge a lot faster.”
The Mourning After
Like many Arizonans, the North Rim has been an important part of Heidi Conto’s life for decades. For her and her husband, Kevin, who both work at W. L. Gore & Associates, it represented weekends of board games on the lodge patio with their three children and a gathering place for their extended community of family and friends following rim-to-rim hikes.
“Sunday [July 13] was a day of mourning for us,” said Conto. “We’re all still shocked.”
Pacific Edge Wine and Spirits representative Caitlin Wood of Flagstaff feels the same way. A server at the lodge for three seasons since 2010, she has visited at least once a year since then. “All the workers come back together for our annual reunion. The North Rim gets in your heart, and you just cannot not go back.”
“There’s a little bit of a message here,” said Thode. “Our historic and important places kind of in the middle of nowhere deserve the same sense of protection as our forests. What makes them so beautiful, like shake shingles and wood, also makes them prone to destruction by fire.”
“It’s a shame,” said Covington. “The North Rim is one of my favorite areas. It’s such beautiful country and the lodge fit it so nicely and really showed the crown king, the Grand Canyon, and the wonderful forest. The future is pretty grim if we don’t get on top of the fuel accumulation and restoration work to reduce the loss of forest that we still have. Time has run out.”
Meanwhile, Oltrogge says she is in the denial stage of grief. “I know we will rebuild, but the landscape will be forever changed.” FBN
By Bonnie Stevens, FBN
Photo by Robert Pennell: Kristie Gaydos of New Jersey takes in the beauty of the canyon in the quiet of a late afternoon.
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