Work is underway to provide housing for workers evacuated before the Dragon Bravo fire ripped through the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
About 325 employees were displaced from the North Rim due to the fire, forcing them to abandon the apartment complexes, small cabins, and single-family homes where they lived, according to an email from park spokesperson Joëlle Baird.
Of those affected, about 50 were National Park Service employees and 275 were concession employees. Roughly half of the NPS employees were seasonal or volunteer workers. The other 25 or so lived in the park permanently.
Most of the concession employees, including those working for Aramark and the Grand Canyon Conservancy, were also seasonal.
The Dragon Bravo fire tore into the North Rim on July 12 and destroyed or damaged more than 100 structures, according to Baird. That included the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, as well as nearly a dozen NPS residences.
"Since the evacuation on July 11, displaced NPS employees who do not have alternative housing elsewhere in the area have been temporarily housed at the Albright Training Center on the South Rim which has small apartment-style housing accommodations," Baird said. "Most have been or will be reassigned to positions on the South Rim."
In response the park launched "Operation Housing," a project which is renovating 18 housing units on the South Rim to provide longer-term accommodations that will support both seasonal and permanent staff displaced by the fire. Park Service employees from other locations have come in to help.
“This effort is critical in helping our North Rim employees reestablish some stability after the Dragon Bravo Fire,” Katie Morris, Acting Deputy Superintendent of Operations, said in a recent park update. “We are incredibly grateful to the teams who came together so quickly to support our employees during this difficult time.”
The Dragon Bravo fire has burned more than 134,000 acres, or about 210 square miles. The blaze was 36 percent as of Friday morning contained but dangerous fire weather threatened to stop progress made by firefighters in recent days.
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