@inciweb

When lightning struck on 4 July along the North Rim of Grand Canyon national park, sparking a small wildfire in a patch of dry forest, few predicted the terror and loss that lay ahead. Fire managers decided that conditions seemed ideal to let the blaze burn at a low intensity – a practice known as “control and contain” that helps clear out excess fuels and decreases the chance catastrophic wildfire in the future. Rains from previous weeks had left the forest floor moist and weather forecasts indicated the summer monsoon season would arrive soon. …On 11 July, the fire burst through its containment lines and began to rapidly pick up speed – exploding tenfold in a day. “The fire sounded like a freight train coming towards us,” says a firefighter, who was part of the National Parks Service crew battling the blaze. By 12 July, it seemed the destruction was unstoppable.