Kaibab National Forest

A wildland firefighter for the Kaibab National Forest was among those killed Saturday while working to suppress a wildfire in western Colorado.

Authorities said Nick Hutcherson, 27, of Glendale and two others were killed while responding to the Knowles Fire Saturday. Hutcherson was assigned to the U.S. Forest Service Kaibab National Forest.

A wildfire first detected Saturday afternoon has triggered evacuations north of Parks in Pumpkin Center while crews have responded to another fire 7 miles south of Tusayan.

Land managers say a fire burning near the Utah-Arizona state line has grown to more than 2,200 acres and is now 5% contained.

Kaibab National Forest managers want to reduce the threat of dead and damaged trees from last year’s Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires.

Managers on the Kaibab National Forest are planning thousands of acres of prescribed burns north of the Grand Canyon that could begin as early as Tuesday.

The National Park Service has released its executive summary of the Dragon Bravo Fire’s impacts on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and surrounding forest land.

The cost of wildfire recovery on public lands mostly falls to agencies like the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. Several western U.S. senators have requested more federal help after a devastating fire year.

Fire managers throughout northern Arizona conducted numerous prescribed burns Tuesday, creating visible smoke that impacted Flagstaff and other local communities.

Kaibab National Forest officials have reopened 77,000 acres north of the Grand Canyon that was closed last month because of the White Sage and Dragon Bravo fires.