SHOCKING footage from the first megafire of the year shows the terrifying reality crews are facing as they continue to battle the raging inferno.
The Dragon Bravo Fire in Arizona, sparked by lightning on July 4, has been burning for almost a month and continues to pose a threat to the Grand Canyon.
The Dragon Bravo Fire has been burning for almost one month after being ignited by lightning[/caption]
The blaze reached megafire status on August 1 after growing to over 105,000 acres in size[/caption]
Officials fear the fire will continue to spread as embers are blown by strong winds over containment lines into dry vegetation[/caption]
Over 1,000 personnel have been deployed to contain the fire[/caption]
It has already incinerated the Grand Canyon Lodge, an iconic tourist location on the North Rim that first opening in 1928.
Heartbreaking images show the historic lodge engulfed by flames with officials from the national park saying they have been “devastated by the loss”.
Other structures were destroyed including the North Rim visitor Center and a number of cabins.
The blaze officially achieved “megafire” status on Friday, officials confirmed.
It comes as it is now over 105,000 acres in size, making it the largest wildfire in the continental United States so far this year.
After already burning through around 100 structures, it is the biggest fire to hit the Grand Canyon National Park since 1984 and is the 10th largest wildfire in the state since 1990.
Timelapse footage shows orange plumes of smoke and vapors billowing into the sky above the tree line, powerful enough to create it’s own weather system.
“They’re known to generate storms, produce lightning, or even tornadoes,” the Southwest Area Incident Management Team 2 overseeing the wildfire response said on Facebook.
As of Saturday, the inferno was over 114,500 acres in size – almost three times bigger than Washington DC.
While crews desperately battle the flames officials say it is still expected to grow thanks to heavy winds, high temperatures, and dry conditions.
The Kaibab National Forest lying north and south of the Grand Canyon confirmed in an update that over 1,180 people are battling the flames with 11% of it contained as of August 2.
“You can see the flames at night. You can see clouds of smoke during the day.” Lisa Jennings, a spokeswoman for the Southwest Area Team said of the view from the South Rim, 11 miles away.
Fire Behavior Analyst Arthur Gonzales gave an update on the fire saying that the north perimeter was causing a concern for “rapid fire spread” due to the combination of winds and dry land.
He detailed how embers can be “lofted over containment lines or down into additional fuels ahead of the fire”.
“We’re at a 100% chance today that any ember that hits those fuels will take,” he warned on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the southwest flank of the inferno on the North Rim of Grand Canyon and at the Kaibab National Forest is “well-established over the rim edge” making it even more difficult to tackle.
The map shows the perimeters of the mega fire as of Saturday[/caption]
Smoke can be seen from the blaze from across the canyon on the South Rim[/caption]
The Grand Canyon lodge is one of the 50-80 buildings destroyed by the blaze[/caption]
This area of the fire is being further encouraged by 100 degree temperatures in the Grand Canyon and could spread west by half a mile, Gonzales said.
The National Weather Service has issued an Extreme Heat Warning until Friday.
“We’re kind of locked in a dry, breezy, abnormally hot pattern because our monsoon hasn’t showed up,” Benjamin Peterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Flagstaff, told the New York Times.
As efforts continue to dampen and extinguish the fire, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park will remain closed for the rest of the 2025 season.
Meanwhile, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has launched a probe into the fire after the decision was made early on to have a “controlled burn”.
This is a technique often to try to prevent other fires by burning up the vegetation that fuels major fires but strong winds on July 11 saw the fire exceed containment lines and burn the Grand Canyon lodge and other buildings.
The Dragon Bravo Fire is second to the Klikhtentotzna fire in Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska, that is currently the largest in the country.
It has been raging for over a month and covers over 118,000 acres as of Saturday.
The Grand Canyon North Rim will remain closed for the rest of the 2025 season[/caption]
Firefighters and emergency vehicles are positioned in front of the Dragon Bravo Fire in Grand Canyon[/caption]
Efforts to contain the wildfire continue as extreme weather warnings are in place for the following week[/caption]
