Grand Canyon National Park Fire Update

Subscribe RSS Icon | What is RSS
Date: June 8, 2009
Contact: Shannan Marcak, 928-638-7958

Grand Canyon, Ariz. – Three lightening strike fires are currently burning within Grand Canyon National Park.

The Quincy Fire
The Quincy Fire is located on the North Rim, northwest of Point Imperial at FR610.  The Quincy Fire had been smoldering in forest litter and dead and down logs until Saturday when high winds contributed to rapid fire growth and, eventually, spotting across FR610.  Based on this undesirable fire behavior, fire managers decided to take full suppression actions on the fire. 

The Quincy Fire is approximately 80 acres in size and is currently estimated at 20% containment.  Yesterday, firefighters completed a fire line around the fire.  Fire managers plan to continue securing that fire line and increasing percent containment.  Due to decreased activity on the fire, fire managers have also begun to scale back operations.

The Game Reserve Fire
The Game Reserve Fire is located on the South Rim approximately 1.5 miles northwest of the Grandview Lookout tower (about 9 miles southeast of Grand Canyon Village.)  This fire is approximately 170 acres in size and is being managed with both protection and resource benefit objectives. 

On its north and east sides, the Game Reserve Fire is being managed with protection objectives.  On the north side, it is being held at the power line on the south side of Hwy 64 with the objective of keeping fire south of the power line.  On the east side, fire managers plan to hold the fire at park road e10.  The east perimeter of the fire is currently exhibiting little activity.

On the south and west sides, the Game Reserve Fire is being managed for resource benefit.  The benefits fire managers hope to achieve include reducing unnatural fuel accumulations and returning fire to its natural role in a fire-dependent ecosystem. 

Recent activity on this fire has primarily been flanking growth to the west where the fire is creating a healthy mosaic of burned and unburned areas as it moves through the forest.  Although the fire is exhibiting minimal growth to the south at this time, it has crossed the park boundary onto the Kaibab National Forest. 

Smoke and some fire activity from the Game Reserve Fire are visible from Hwy 64 in the general vicinity of Grandview Point.  To facilitate traffic flow, park visitors are asked not to stop or pull over in the vicinity of the fire.

The growth trend of the Game Reserve Fire has been, and is expected to continue to be, to the south and west.  The Ruby Fire, within Kaibab National Forest, is located approximately 1.5 miles southwest of the Game Reserve Fire.  As a result, forest and park fire managers met again today to discuss management options as these two fires continue to move across the landscape toward each other.

The Trick Fire
The Trick Fire is located on the South Rim approximately 2 miles west-southwest of the junction of Hwy 64 and the Grandview Point road.  The fire is approximately 1/10 acres in size and has shown no activity for the past several days.  If predicted rain events occur, fire managers anticipate calling the fire out within the next 24 hours.

Updates on these three fires will be provided as significant changes in size, activity, or fire management objectives occur.

To learn more about the role of fire in Grand Canyon National Park, please visit the park’s fire management page at www.nps.gov/grca/parkmgmt/firemanagement.htm.  To keep track of current fire activity in the park, please go to www.nps.gov/grca/parkmgmt/fire_info.htm

-NPS-



Last updated: December 28, 2017

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

PO Box 129
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Phone:

928-638-7888

Contact Us