The lodge opened in June 1937 and was the only hotel inside Grand Canyon National Park boundaries on the North Rim.

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.

"As stewards of some of our country's most beloved national treasures, we are devastated by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge," Aramark, the company that operated the lodge, said in a statement.