Crews fighting the Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon have successfully safeguarded a critical drinking water pumphouse.
The nearly 9,300-acre fire is still 0% contained.
Fire officials say they’ve shielded Roaring Springs from the wildfire, at least for now.
The pumphouse is located 3,000 feet below the North Rim and delivers water throughout the park.
Managers have flown in firefighters to help helicopter pilots with water drops.
Stefan La-Sky is a spokesperson with the incident management team.
"When they're working in conjunction with actually boots on the ground, they have visuals of each other, they can actually point the pilot in the right direction. So it just makes those water drops much more accurate and much more efficient. We gained a lot of good ground there," La-Sky says.
More than 500 firefighters are strengthening containment lines and protecting the remaining structures on the North Rim, including a historic fire lookout tower.
Last weekend, the wildfire swept through the area and burned 70 buildings including the Grand Canyon Lodge.
The Dragon Bravo Fire is still active along the North Rim and the area is closed to visitors for the rest of the season.
Several popular Grand Canyon trails like the lower Bright Angel are temporarily off limits along with Phantom Ranch.
White Sage Fire
Meanwhile, crews have contained 4% containment of the White Sage Fire burning southeast of Fredonia.
More than 500 personnel continue to face active fire conditions and wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour as thunderstorms passed through the area Wednesday.
Rain is expected over the burn area but officials say it’s unlikely to fully extinguish the 53,000-acre blaze.
The White Sage Fire is burning near Jacob Lake on the Kaibab Plateau, partially in a wildfire scar from 2020.
Evacuation orders are still in place for Jacob Lake and Highway 89A is closed in the area.
Firefighters plan to connect their containment lines to the highway and strengthen the southern perimeter of the fire in the coming days.
In addition, where it’s safe firefighters are extinguishing and mopping up areas burning within the fire’s footprint.
