Grand Canyon National Park Implements New Temporary Road and Trail Closures on the North Rim; Obi Fire Grows to 8,100 Acres

Grand Canyon, AZ- Grand Canyon National Park has implemented new temporary closures for public and firefighter safety. These include the Swamp Ridge Road, the North Bass Trail, and the Powell Plateau Trail. Fire Point, the Nankoweap Trail, and the Point Imperial Trail remain closed.

Grand Canyon National Park has also closed Cape Royal Road from the junction with the Point Imperial Road. Included in this closure are Cape Final Trail, Cliff Spring Trail, the northern section of the Ken Patrick Trail from Point Imperial to Cape Royal Road, and the southern section of the Ken Patrick Trail from Cape Royal Road to the old Bright Angel Trail.

The temporary closures are in effect until further notice. The road to Point Imperial and all other North Rim trails and facilities are open at this time. Prior to visiting these areas visitors should check-in at the Backcountry Information Center or the North Rim Visitor Center.

The Obi Fire is estimated at 8,100 acres. Growth today was primarily in the southern and eastern portions of the fire perimeter as the fire continues to back down towards Cape Royal. Fire behavior was active with isolated tree torching and surface fire of two to four foot flames where the fire was consuming dead logs. The fire continues to grow through pine needles and downed logs.

Smoke from the Obi Fire is visible from both the North and South Rims of the park. Smoke will become more visible to the south and southeast as the fire progresses further down the Walhalla Plateau.

There is also visible smoke being produced by fires on the Kaibab National Forest. Visitors may see increased smoke or haze filling the canyon. For more information about air quality at Grand Canyon National Park visit, https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_city&cityid=31%20.

Resources assigned to the fire include one Type 2IA handcrew, three engines, one helicopter, one helitack crew, and a fire ecologist.

Please visit https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/management/firemanagement.htm for other information about wildland fire at Grand Canyon National Park or call 928-638-7819 for recorded fire information. For additional daily updates and photos, visit the Obi Fire Inciweb incident page, https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6030/ .

For fire information on the Kaibab National Forest, visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab or @KaibabNF on Facebook and Twitter or call (928) 635-8311 for recorded fire information.