A rapidly growing fire near the Grand Canyon has expanded nearly 20 times in size over the last 24 hours.
What officials have dubbed the White Sage Fire in Jacob Lake, Arizona — roughly 650 miles southwest of Denver, Colorado — has grown from 1,000 acres to nearly 20,000 acres, according to a government website that tracks U.S. wildfires. It is 0% contained.
The fire was ignited by lightning strikes on Thursday, prompting officials to evacuate Grand Canyon National Park's North Rim and close it to visitors through at least Saturday, according to the National Park Service. A number of hiking and running trails, including Silver Bridge, River Trail and Plateau Point Trail, were closed Saturday as high temperatures presented mortal danger, park officials said.
On Friday, officials said in a post on X that roughly 500 visitors were evacuated from the area and park employees and residents were sheltering in place.
Additionally, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management shut down public access to federal land in the area of the White Sage Fire on Saturday as a precaution.
On Saturday afternoon, the fire was roughly 3 miles from the Jacob Lake Inn. Melinda Rich Marshall’s great-grandparents founded the lodge in 1923 and have helped retain it as a family-run business and staple of the North Rim community for more than 100 years.
Earlier this week, she scrambled to evacuate guests, employees, and artifacts, leaving a caretaker behind to watch the premises as long as safely possible. "Emotions sort of go up and down," she said, noting her family's deep connections to the inn.
“There are definitely things that we left and that we couldn’t take, but we’re so grateful that all of the people were accounted for, and all of our employees made it safely,” Marshall said.
As Marshall pondered whether the location would survive for another generation, she's absorbed rapidly changing information on the mushrooming blaze, which has doubled in size twice since she began tracking it on Friday.
"We had been told it was about 1,000 acres," she said. "That makes it really unpredictable and really hard to contain, and that's part of what makes those emotions go kind of all over the place."
As the White Sage Fire rages on, the nearby Dragon Bravo Fire has grown to 5,000 acres inside Grand Canyon National Park, according to the National Park Service. It started with a lightning strike on July 4, officials said.
“High temperatures, very low humidity, gusty winds, and very dry vegetation across the region” created a risk for wildfires to occur, Grand Canyon National Park said in a post on X.
The National Weather Service forecast for Sunday in the area includes a projected high temperature of 90 and wind gusts as strong as 16 mph.
