The building was surrounded by vegetation on fire when a team of “helitack” firefighters arrived to protect the area on Tuesday. Grand Canyon National Park officials said the crews knew if the pump house fell, the consequences could cripple park operations for months.

Over 1,000 people have been assigned to fight the Dragon Bravo Fire burning near the Grand Canyon and the White Sage Fire burning farther north.

Drought, a warming climate and decades of firefighting policies that suppressed natural fires have turned many grasslands and forests across the West into tinderboxes.