A wildfire that tore through a historic Grand Canyon lodge and raged out of control Monday had been allowed to burn for days before erupting over the weekend, raising scrutiny over the National Park Service’s decision to not aggressively attack the fire right away.

The fire along the canyon’s more isolated North Rim where most visitors don’t venture was burning quickly with no containment, fire officials said. No injuries had been reported, but more than 70 structures were lost, including a visitors center and several cabins.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs called for a federal investigation into the Park Service’s handling of the fire that began with a lightning strike July 4.

“Arizonans deserve answers for how this fire was allowed to decimate the Grand Canyon National Park,” the governor said in a social media post Sunday. “The federal government chose to manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer.”

She will be meeting with leadership in the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior soon to learn more about the decisions made in managing the wildfire, Hobbs spokesperson Christian Slater said in an email.

Authorities first used a “confine and contain” strategy but shifted to aggressive suppression as the fire — one of two that firefighters are dealing with on the North Rim — rapidly grew because of hot temperatures, low humidity and strong wind gusts, fire officials said.

The fire destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, along with cabins, employee housing and a waste water treatment plant, park Superintendent Ed Keable said Sunday.

Park officials have closed access for the season to the North Rim, a less popular area of the park that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon’s millions of annual visitors.

From the air, plumes of black smoke could be seen rising above the canyon walls.

Smoke rises from the Grand Canyon National Park on July 13, 2025 as seen in a photo provided by the national park. - Grand Canyon National Park via Getty Images

Hikers in the area were evacuated and rafters on the Colorado River, which snakes through the canyon, were told to bypass Phantom Ranch, an outpost of cabins and dormitories. No injuries have been reported, but 50 to 80 structures have been lost, the park superintendent said.

The fire flared up Saturday night, fueled by high winds. Firefighters managed to make progress, using aerial fire retardant drops near the lodge before they had to pull back because of a chlorine gas leak at the water treatment plant, the park service said.

Hikers also were evacuated over concern that the poisonous, heavier-than-air gas could sink downhill, into the canyon.

Historic lodge burned

The Grand Canyon Lodge, known for its huge ponderosa beams, massive limestone facade and a bronze statue of a donkey named “Brighty the Burro,” was perched on the edge of the North Rim and offered sweeping views of the canyon.

This undated image provided by the National Park Service shows the entrance to the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. - Michael Quinn/National Park Service/AP

This photo provided by National Park Service shows the charred remains of a building at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, in northern Arizona, on Sunday, July 13, 2025. - National Park Service/AP

Caren Carney was staying at the lodge with her husband, parents and 12-year-old son when a park ranger knocked on their door Thursday and told them to evacuate.

Carney’s parents first took her to the North Rim in the early 90s when she was 12, and the family decided to do the same with her son this year now that he was the same age. She was overjoyed to show her husband and son the serene beauty of the North Rim for the first time, and to bring her dad back to one of his favorite places in the world.

Carney said she was heartbroken Sunday to hear that such a “magical place” had burned down. After evacuating, the family from Georgia relocated to the South Rim to continue their vacation and they could see the blaze from across the canyon.

“We told my son while visiting that this is now a family tradition and he should bring his children when they are 12,” Carney said. I hope there will be something as magnificent for them to see in the future, and I’m so glad we got to have one final look at it in the present before it was lost.”

Aramark, the company that operated the lodge, said all employees and guests were safely evacuated.

An original lodge burned down from a kitchen fire in 1932, four years after construction was completed, according to the Grand Canyon Historical Society. The redesigned lodge using the original stonework opened in 1937.

This photo provided by Caren Carney shows the family's view of fires over the Grand Canyon after they had to evacuate Grand Canyon Lodge, a historic lodge on the North Rim, in northern Arizona, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Caren Carney via AP) - Caren Carney via AP

Along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, the Dragon Bravo Fire that destroyed the lodge and other buildings spread to nearly 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) on Monday.

The White Sage Fire also grew significantly over the past day, now having charred 77 square miles (199 square kilometers) of terrain with no containment. Officials reported progress in battling the fire but evacuations.

High temperatures and gusty winds will worsen fire weather conditions in northern Arizona and southern Utah Tuesday, raising the risk to the highest level in the region since the two large wildfires ignited earlier this month.

Fire weather danger on Tuesday is expected to be elevated in some areas and rise to critical in others (Levels 1 and 2 out of 3) and includes the White Sage and Dragon Bravo fires, according to the Storm Prediction Center, which also warned of “gusty erratic winds from nearby thunderstorms.”

Nearly 5 million people visited the Grand Canyon last year, with most sticking to the South Rim. Roads in the North Rim are closed to vehicles in the winter and the lodge opens in May through mid-October.

Fire season in the western US

Across the West, about three dozen fires are burning uncontained and another 80 fires are being managed to clear out vegetation that has clogged the landscape, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

So far this year, nearly 2.5 million acres have burned. That’s slightly below the 10-year average, the center said Monday.

A wildfire burning in southwestern Colorado closed Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and forced evacuations nearby. It had burned about 5.7 square miles (14.8 square kilometers) as of Monday. The fire was started by lightning Thursday on the park’s south rim, a dramatic, deep gorge carved by the Gunnison River.

Fire officials said the brush and trees were very dry and there was only a minimal chance for rain in the coming days. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued a disaster declaration because of the fire and others in western Colorado.

This story has been updated with additional information.