GRAND CANYON WILDFIRE

Park officials have closed access for the season to the North Rim, a less popular area of the park that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon's millions of annual visitors

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FLAGSTAFF (Arizona): A wildfire that levelled a historic lodge and visitors centre on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim grew rapidly more than a week after it began as firefighters pushed ahead on Monday with efforts to slow its spread.

Park officials have closed access for the season to the North Rim, a less popular area of the park that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon's millions of annual visitors.

The fire destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, along with cabins, employee housing and a waste water treatment plant, park Superintendent Ed Keable said Sunday.

Firefighters at the North Rim and hikers in the inner canyon were evacuated during the weekend over concerns about the fire and potential exposure to chlorine gas after a treatment plant burned.

Rafters on the Colorado River, which snakes through the Grand Canyon, were told to bypass Phantom Ranch, an outpost of cabins and dormitories at the bottom of the canyon.