U.S. land managers are racing the clock as hotter, drier weather raises the risk of wildfires in the nation’s overgrown forests with each passing year.

The Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim was destroyed by the Dragon Bravo wildfire, which began with a lightning strike on July 4 and spread rapidly due to high winds.

“It's tragic, it really is,” retired National Park Service chief historian Robert K. Sutton said Monday.