The commander in charge of managing the response to the Dragon Bravo Fire raging on in northern Arizona told state lawmakers Tuesday that the fight to contain it is far from over.
Incident Cmdr. John Truett warned that the fire, which has already burned tens of thousands of acres, is expected to keep growing.
Truett says that due to the area’s heavy vegetation, firefighters aren’t able to safely reach the fire’s edge to contain it.
“It's not looking good. I hate to be that guy up here saying it's not looking good, but it's reality. We're not out of the fire season at all,” Truett said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the fire had burned 71,000 acres and was 9% contained, according to InciWeb.
So far, Arizona has had 913 fires in 2025, Truett said. They were mainly accidentally caused by humans.
“We basically, in my opinion, we've dodged the bullet this year, haven't had any real large, large fires other than Greer and the few other fires that are going on now. But the potential out there was — was extreme,” Truett said.
Lawmakers questioned the handling of the lightning-caused fire and why it wasn’t more aggressively suppressed at the onset.
Over the past two weeks, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and some of Arizona’s federal legislators also asked the federal government for an explanation about the management of the Dragon Bravo Fire, which is on federal land.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum committed to do the investigation, Hobbs said last week.
Truett says the management decision by the federal government made sense at the time, and that no one anticipated the heavy, sustained winds that have rapidly expanded the fire’s scope.
“This is not a control burn. … There's a full suppression fire,” Truett said, explaining the need for controlled burns which hadn’t happened in the Dragon Bravo Fire area. He said the only person to blame here is “Smokey the Bear.”
“The decision out there that was made was right at the time, but again, when you get hit by a 40 mile an hour north wind that's sustained for 30 hours, you cannot see that coming,” Truett said.
Going forward, Truett says what’s really needed to suppress the Dragon Bravo Fire is a change in the weather and ideally a monsoon storm.
1 of 36
— dragon-bravo-wildfire-20250801.jpg
The Dragon Bravo Fire burning along Highway 67 near the Grand Canyon on Aug. 1, 2025.
Inciweb
2 of 36
— dragon-bravo-wildfire-night-20250806.jpg
Night operations on the Dragon Bravo Fire at the Grand Canyon's North Rim on Aug. 3, 2025.
Inciweb
3 of 36
— dragon-bravo-wildfire-sky-20250731.jpg
The Dragon Bravo Fire at the Grand Canyon seen at night with the Milky Way on July 28, 2025.
Inciweb
4 of 36
— dragon-bravo-wildfire-20250801.jpeg
The Dragon Bravo Fire on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
A. Sage-Morris/Inciweb
5 of 36
— dragon-bravo-wildfire-20250729.jpg
A plume of smoke from the Dragon Bravo Fire near the Grand Canyon on Tuesday, July 29, 2025.
Inciweb
6 of 36
— dragon-bravo-wildfire-kaibab-forest-20250731.jpg
Smoke from the Dragon Bravo Fire in the Kaibab National Forest on July 28, 2025.
Inciweb
7 of 36
— dragon-bravo-wildfire-grand-canyon-20250724.jpeg
The Dragon Bravo Fire near the Grand Canyon on July 23, 2025.
Lisa Jennings/Southwest Area Complex Incident Management Team
8 of 36
— white-sage-wildfire-mopip-20250723.png
A firefighter mops up a fallen tree on the White Sage Fire in northern Arizona on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
Inciweb
9 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-wildfire-20250722.jpg
The Grand Canyon Lodge on July 18, 2025. It was destroyed by the Dragon Bravo Fire earlier in the month.
Matt Jenkins/National Park Service
10 of 36
— white-sage-wildfire-20250722.jpg
Crews fight the White Sage Fire in northern Arizona on Monday, July 21, 2025.
Ryan Whiteaker/Inciweb
11 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-burned-20250722.jpg
The Grand Canyon Lodge on July 18, 2025. It was destroyed by the Dragon Bravo Fire earlier in the month.
Matt Jenkins/National Park Service
12 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-rubble-20250722.jpg
The Grand Canyon Lodge on July 18, 2025. It was destroyed by the Dragon Bravo Fire earlier in the month.
Matt Jenkins/National Park Service
13 of 36
— white-sage-wildfire-20250721.JPG
A firefighter works against the White Sage Wildfire in northern Arizona on Sunday, July 20, 2025.
White Sage Fire Information Team
14 of 36
— white-sage-wildfire-20250718.jpg
A rainbow over the White Sage Fire in northern Arizona on Friday, July 18, 2025.
Daniel Barlow
15 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-charred-20250714.jpg
A firefighter stands near smoldering debris and active flames amid the charred remains of a burned structure near the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
National Park Service
16 of 36
— White-Sage-Fire-7-13-25.jpg
Crews battle the White Sage Fire in northern Arizona on July 13, 2025.
Ethan Deaner/Rocky Mountain Fire Control/National Park Service
17 of 36
— Plume-over-the-rim-7-11-25.jpg
A smoke plume rises over the Grand Canyon on July 11, 2025.
M. Quinn/National Park Service
18 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-sing-away-20250714.jpg
College students who worked at the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim perform a "sing-away" for departing guests.
Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection
19 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-2017.JPEG
The Grand Canyon Lodge in 2017.
KJZZ
20 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-2019 (1).JPEG
The Grand Canyon Lodge in 2019.
KJZZ
21 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-2019 (2).JPEG
The Grand Canyon Lodge in 2019.
KJZZ
22 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-2019 (1).JPG
The Grand Canyon Lodge in 2019.
KJZZ
23 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-2019 (4).JPG
The Grand Canyon Lodge in 2019.
KJZZ
24 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-2019 (3).JPG
The Grand Canyon Lodge in 2019.
KJZZ
25 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-2019 (2).JPG
The Grand Canyon Lodge in 2019.
KJZZ
26 of 36
— Grand-Canyon-Lodge-NPS.jpg
The Grand Canyon Lodge was built in 1936-37, according to the National Park Service.
National Park Service
27 of 36
— grand-canyon-lodge-nps-20250713_.jpg
The Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, pictured here in May 2008.
Michael Quinn/U.S. National Park Service
28 of 36
— white-sage-fire-3-20250713.jpg
Fire crews battle the White Sage Fire about 15 miles southwest of Fredonia, Arizona.
White Sage Fire/Haven Barlow/Hurricane Valley Fire
29 of 36
— white-sage-fire-2-20250713.jpg
Fire crews battle the White Sage Fire about 15 miles southwest of Fredonia, Arizona.
White Sage Fire/Haven Barlow/Hurricane Valley Fire
30 of 36
— white-sage-fire-1-crop-20250713.jpg
Fire crews battle the White Sage Fire about 15 miles southwest of Fredonia, Arizona.
White Sage Fire/Haven Barlow/Hurricane Valley Fire
31 of 36
— white-sage-fire-plane-20250711.jpg
Crews battled the White Sage Fire in northern Arizona on Friday, July 11, 2025.
Bureau of Land Management-Arizona Strip District
32 of 36
— white-sage-fire-20250711.jpg
The White Sage Fire burning near the Grand Canyon on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
Inciweb
33 of 36
— white-sage-wildfire-20250716.jpeg
Crews fight the White Sage Fire in northern Arizona on Wednesday, July 16, 2025.
Leah Mobley/Inciweb
34 of 36
— white-sage-wildfire-20250719.jpeg
Crews work to contain the White Sage Fire in northern Arizona on Saturday, July 19, 2025.
Leah Mobley
35 of 36
— white-sage-fire-seeding-equipment-20250728.jpg
Crews focused on suppression repair spread seeds to help minimize erosion — which can hinder regrowth and water absorption — in the area burned by the White Sage Fire.
Sean Mcnearney/White Sage Fire
36 of 36
— Rio-Grande-Hand-crew-dragon-bravo-wildfire-20250731.jpg
The Rio Grande Hand Crew fighting the Dragon Bravo Fire near the Grand Canyon on July 31, 2025.
Inciweb
