GRAND CANYON — The Dragon Bravo Fire near the Upper Rim of the Grand Canyon has been raging for a month and became a megafire last week when it grew to more than 100,000 acres. As of Monday, August 4, the fire has now consumed 123,171 acres—or, 192 square miles—according to the Southwest Area Incident Management Team.
Most of the fire’s growth occurred in the last week, when efforts to contain the fire fell below ten percent. On Friday, July 25, the fire had only consumed 28,773 acres and was reportedly 26% contained. By the following Monday morning, that number dropped to 13%, and then again to 9% on Tuesday. By Wednesday, it had fallen to 4% contained and had consumed 94,228 acres. Over a thousand personnel have been devoted to the fire, but there seems to be no end in sight.
Vegetation on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon consists of dense, mixed conifer forest with mostly Douglas fir trees that are more than 100 feet tall. The rugged land many miles to the north offers plenty of fuel and the arid conditions of an exceptionally dry summer have created the perfect conditions for the fire to spread.
Officials attributed the fire’s growth to several environmental factors—high winds, low humidity, and rough terrain that made it difficult to attack the fire. In fact, Monday, July 28, marked five days in a row of record low humidity in the area of the fire.
The handling of the fire in its earliest days has drawn harsh criticism from many local and state officials. The size of the Dragon Bravo Fire was a mere 120 acres on July 10, with only 61 firefighters assigned to the task of controlling the blaze. However, winds picked up to 40mph overnight and the fire jumped across the containment lines established by firefighters, causing the fire to grow to more than 5,000 acres in less than two days.
Perhaps the worst day of the fire occurred on July 12, when the fire ripped through many structures inside the national park. Around 100 structures have been destroyed, including the Grand Canyon Lodge. A wastewater treatment facility was also impacted, causing chlorine gas to leak into the area after the heat dissolved a safety valve that is designed to prevent combustion.
The presence of chlorine gas was a serious problem for firefighters because it impeded efforts to drop flame retardant from the air. Park authorities evacuated everyone from the area, including firefighters. Because chlorine gas is heavier than air, authorities also closed access to inner canyon locations like North Kaibab Trail, Phantom Ranch, and South Kaibab Trial.
A day later, Governor Katie Hobbs released a statement calling for an investigation into the fire’s origin, questioning the federal government’s handling of the fire in its earliest days. The fire began with a lightning strike on July 4, but officials in the first days of the fire decided to allow the fire to burn in a manner they believed could be contained.
“I am calling for the federal government to conduct a comprehensive, thorough, and independent investigation into the management of the Dragon Bravo Fire, and to produce a report detailing the decisions that led to this devastating outcome,” Hobbs said in the statement. “As wildfires become more frequent and more intense, Arizona deserves nothing less than an aggressive and proactive emergency response from federal partners to ensure Arizonan’s lives, homes, businesses and natural resources are preserved.”
A day after Hobbs’ statement, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego sent a joint letter to Secretary of the Interior, Doug Bergum, echoing those concerns. The letter asks for an analysis of the factors that went into the decision to treat the fire as a controlled burn, and what steps the department intends to take to ensure that similar fires do not occur in the future in Arizona.
The National Park Service has defended the controlled-burn approach, saying that they prioritized lives over buildings.
“We’ve lost buildings, but hundreds of lives were saved due to the fact this fire was expertly handled,” NPS Spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz told The Arizona Republic three days after the Grand Canyon Lodge was destroyed. “We may be saddened by the loss of buildings, but those can be re-built. Firefighters are continuing to respond to this fire in the safest way possible putting their lives and the lives of the community, park visitors, and park employees ahead of buildings.”
The areas most at risk right now are the Kaibab Lodge, Walhalla Plateau, the Rock House Wildlife Area, and Kane Ranch. Humidity is expected to remain low and rainfall is unlikely in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the White Sage Fire to the north of the Grand Canyon, which started on the same day as the Dragon Bravo Fire, is now 95% contained.
The Dragon Bravo Fire can be tracked online at https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/azgcp-dragon-bravo-fire. The Southwest Area Complex Incident Management Team has been doing daily video updates, which can be viewed on its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/2025dragonbravo. Residents and visitors impacted by the smoke are encouraged to monitor local air quality conditions at outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net.
