A wildfire that tore through a historic Grand Canyon Lodge​ had been allowed to burn for days before erupting over the weekend, raising questions about federal officials' decision not to aggressively attack it right away.

"We were just short on resources, didn't have enough people, enough aircraft to get there and, you know, effectively fight the fire," said Stanley in a phone interview, speaking of his first night working on the fire as part of an air attack crew.

The NWS warning was in effect for regions of the Grand Canyon below 4,000 feet elevation. Temperatures were forecast to potentially reach 110 degrees at Phantom Ranch and 102 at Havasupai Gardens.

Wildfires can burn and spread differently depending on what vegetation they burn. The two fires in northern Arizona have varied landscapes. Ponderosa pine trees grow near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and can live for hundreds of years.

A water treatment facility at the North Rim had been compromised by the fire, causing chlorine gas to fall to the bottom of the Canyon.

In this secluded paradise, mail still arrives by mule, turquoise cascades tumble into travertine pools, and time flows at the pace of the river.

The resulting Nankoweap landslide would have dumped enormous limestone boulders into the river corridor, creating a temporary dam and a lake whose surface may have reached 940 meters elevation before water overtopped and eroded the blockage, likely within 1,000 years.