The visitor center and a wastewater treatment plant were among the 50 to 80 structures lost, the park superintendent said. The area was evacuated Thursday.

The Dragon Bravo Fire is now the eighth-largest wildfire affecting a national park since 2021, growing rapidly and completely uncontained.

Davy Crockett, vice president of the Grand Canyon Historical Society, was on the South Rim as the fires advanced across the canyon, and joined The Show to discuss.

What fueled the explosive growth of the Dragon Bravo Fire was a mix of gusty winds, dry air and above-normal heat – weather conditions experts described as atypical for this time of year, when monsoonal moisture typically tamps down wildfire risk across Arizona.

A water treatment facility at the North Rim had been compromised by the fire, causing chlorine gas to fall towards the bottom of the canyon.