GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) -- A prescribed burn designed to reduce fire danger at the Grand Canyon jumped a containment line Wednesday, blanketing some of the park's busiest visitor spots with heavy smoke.
The fire spread to within a half-mile of park employee housing, national park spokeswoman Leah McGinnis said. Access to the canyon's South Rim _ the most popular section of the park _ was cut off by midafternoon to everyone except park employees, although visitors already in the park were allowed to stay.
None of the park's lodges or restaurants had been evacuated, but ``people can smell the smoke, and the smoke is highly visible,'' Grand Canyon spokeswoman Donna Nemeth said.
Canyon officials had intended to burn 1,620 acres about a mile south of the rim's Grand Canyon Village, which includes campgrounds, lodges, restaurants and other facilities.
Officials had not been able to determine how much the fire had grown beyond the planned burn area but were concentrating on catching the spot fires that were spreading north toward the rim, Nemeth said.
No additional firefighters were immediately called in beyond the 70 people who had been working on the prescribed burn, she said.
In park areas closest to the fire, including the popular Mather Point lookout, park officials fanned out to tell visitors about the fire's location and direction, Nemeth said. She said she didn't know how many people had voluntarily evacuated.
