Fire On Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim Blows Up To More Than 11,000 Acres

Firefighters on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park contending with gusting winds on Sunday, July 17, 2016 were hoping “existing roads and natural features” would help them gain control over a lightning-sparked wildfire that made a four-and-a-half-mile run the day before.

The winds Saturday pushed the Fuller Fire to the northeast through the Saddle Mountain Wilderness. Additional growth was reported to the south below the rim near Ehrenberg Point, park officials said. Crews conducted a second night of burnout operations along Cape Royal Road to prevent fire growth to the east of the Road along the rim.

Fire bosses estimated the size of the blaze at 11,382 acres, with zero percent contained.

On Sunday the effort was to hold the fire to the east of Cape Royal Road using firing operations when needed. To the north, the fire has moved out of the Wilderness into grasses in the South Canyon Point area of the Kaibab National Forest, a park release said. Crews planned to use existing roads and natural features wherever possible to limit future fire spread in this area. To the west, low and moderate fire behavior would continue to benefit the spruce-fir ecosystem of the North Rim, it added.

“We are balancing the need to protect resources where appropriate while still allowing the fire to spread naturally where it is safe to do so, said Rick Miller, deputy incident commander. “To the north and south that means limiting fire growth, while to the west it will continue to back slowly through the fire-adapted ecosystem.”

Cite…

 

The following are paid links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.