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South Rim communities taking economic hit from North Rim wildfire

Communities reiterate Grand Canyon South Rim is open for business Places near the Grand Canyon South Rim are getting the word out that they're not impacted by the wildfire on the North Rim and that they're open for business. (azfamily)
By Steven Sarabia

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ (AZFamily) — A once-beautiful landscape full of history is being ravaged by a wildfire that continues to burn on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. As firefighters work to contain the destructive Dragon Bravo Fire, communities not anywhere near its path are feeling the effects in one way or another.

“We’ve been getting calls, seeing a lot of things posted and so forth that people just being confused, not understanding the difference between the North and the South Rim,” said Clarinda Vail, the mayor of Tusayan, a town just a mile away from the Grand Canyon. It is a popular place for South Rim tourists to stay or visit.

While the North Rim of the canyon remains shut down as firefighters work on containment, the South Rim is open for business. Despite this, Vail said people are canceling their trips. “We already weren’t busy. We already had low occupancies and so forth, that hotels were not that high. We really can’t experience more cancellations or more people not coming because we already weren’t busy,” she said.

Vail says those canceling or looking to cancel seem to be confused about where the Dragon Bravo Fire is burning.

The area between the North and South Rim is the massive, vast Grand Canyon. To get to the other side would require a more than 20-mile hike. To go by car, you have to drive around the canyon, which takes about four hours. There’s no way for a fire to cross the canyon.

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“The message just is that the South Rim is open. South Village and South Grand Canyon National Park (are) open. Tusayan is open. We’re just 1 mile south of the entrance and all the campgrounds and stuff within the Kaibab National Forest. All those things are open. We’re open and we want people to still come and see the Grand Canyon and not think that we’re closed,” said Vail.

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