The Powell Fire Wildland Fire Use

Grand Canyon, AZ – The winds calmed down today on the Powell Plateau of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but the Powell fire continued to grow. The lightning caused fire is 830 acres and is being managed under a wildland fire use strategy which allows for some naturally ignited fires to burn under specific conditions for resource benefits. The fire is moving south on top of the Powell Plateau, 15 air miles to the northwest of the North Rim developed area.

According to Rob Seli, Fire Behavior Analyst on Wayne Cook's Interagency Fire Use Management Team,"We are experiencing a drying trend and that will cause incremental increases in fire behavior through the weekend. Since the fire has been backing into the wind and has not been wind driven, the warmer, drier conditions will actually affect the fire more than the high winds we experienced earlier this week."

There are 42 people assigned to the fire including technical specialists, natural resource advisors, a helicopter pilot and support personnel, fire use module personnel from Zion National Park and Bandelier National Monument and various core team members from Cook's team.

Today, there is more smoke visible in the Canyon from the fire. Smoke from the fire will typically settle in the Canyon at night and should dissipate by mid-day. Grand Canyon National Park is working closely with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to ensure air quality measures are being met.

To ensure public safety, the following closures are still in effect: North Bass Trail, Powell Plateau Trail and Swamp Ridge Road.

For more information about these closures, please contact the Park's Backcountry Information Center at (928) 638-7875. For general park information, please call (928) 638-7888.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon remains open to visitors.

Please visit the following websites for more information and photos of the fire: http://www.nps.gov/grca/fire/ and http://www.fireuse.org/