Strong winds and hot, dry weather continue to fuel two separate wildfires near the northwestern side of the Grand Canyon Saturday, closing the canyon’s North Rim and forcing evacuations throughout the area. 

The White Sage Fire in the unincorporated community of Jacob Lake has exploded in size and is currently burning over 19,000 acres on the Kaibab Plateau northwest of the Grand Canyon.

The fire was sparked by lightning on July 9, BBC News reported Saturday. Erratic winds of up to 15-20 miles per hour caused the fire to balloon from 1,000 acres on the evening of July 10 to 19,153 acres as of Saturday afternoon, according to a federal wildfire tracking website and social media posts shared by the Bureau of Land Management’s Arizona office. Officials have closed nearby public lands operated by the Bureau of Land Management and the Kaibab National Forest and evacuated those in the area. About 500 national park guests were also evacuated from the North Rim due to the fire, the National Park Service posted on X.

Farther south within the park, the Dragon Bravo Fire is currently burning 5,000 acres. The fire was sparked by lightning on July 4 and has grown steadily since then,according to the National Park Service. 

The park service has closed the following areas of the park due to the fire: “the Tiyo Point Trail, the Widforss Trail, the Widforss Forest Trail, the NG9 Outlet Canyon Use Area, the NF9 Widforss Use Area, and all NPS lands above the Coconino Sandstone between Dragon Creek and Transept Canyon that are south of the W-1 Point Sublime Road,” the park service wrote on social media Thursday. The Arizona Trail was still open.

The closures are expected to last until Aug. 9, or be lifted “as soon as the area is safe, whichever is first,” the park service wrote. Both fires are listed at 0% containment as of Saturday afternoon.