Initial assessments show that the visitor center and entrance booth survived the fire, but other buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged

More than a week after lightning ignited wildfires, thousands of acres of Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park are still ablaze, and massive portions of the canyon’s South Rim have been destroyed.

Rapid growth on the South Rim fire in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park forced immediate evacuations in Montrose County on Saturday afternoon.