July 18, 2025 • 12 mins
As the Dragon Bravo Fire grows past 11,700 acres with 0% containment, frustration is mounting—not just from the blaze itself, but from what many see as a lack of access, transparency, and leadership. On today’s episode, we break down the latest updates from fire crews and federal officials, including new threats to Kaibab Lodge and continued structure protection efforts at the North Rim entrance and administrative loop. Plus, a growing chorus of voices—both online and on the ground—is demanding answers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Zeena (00:05):
This is the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show presented by
Hiken. Hiking plus kinship.That's Hiken. Together, we roam.
Here's your host, my hubby, andcofounder of Hiken, Brian
Special.
Brian (00:18):
Alright. It is Friday, 07/18/2025, a week ago at this
time. Man, I mean, who knew thatwe would be in this predicament?
A year ago today, I surfaced onthe North Rim at the end of a
fairly rough overnight rim torim. I met my parents who were
camping in their RV.
We had lunch at the lodge. Istayed in the motel that night.
(00:41):
And, oh, what I would not do tohave those days back again. But
here we are two weeks to theday, two weeks to the day from
the start of the Dragon Bravofire lightning caused, and so so
much has happened, and itappears so so much is still to
come. As of this morning, thefire has consumed 11,742 acres.
(01:08):
There are 662 personnel assignedto this fire. And most daunting
of all, containment still sitsat 0%. From the morning
briefing, cooler, wetter weatherhelps slow fire behavior
temporarily. The fire, though,is expected to intensify yet
(01:29):
again as hotter, drier weatherreturns for the weekend. Crews
are continuing to build firelines, clear hazardous trees
around the North Riminfrastructure, and assess and
protect structures.
Maybe a little bit of good news,but for very few people, Boat
Beach at the bottom of thecanyon in the Phantom Ranch area
(01:50):
is now open again for riverrunners to refill their water,
which they can do at the spigotdown there. So that's a little
bit of good news. Again, mop upand tree removal in the
administrative loop area. Crewsare working with utility teams
to evaluate fire damage to powerlines and generators, and then
there is protection still goingon preemptively at many, many
(02:14):
places. Some rim some rainThursday.
Missed the fire zone,unfortunately. Didn't they
didn't get too much of it. 40%chance of rain today, and then
hot and dry conditions returnfor the weekend, the worst
possible news that we couldhave. Closures. Still North
Kaibab Trail, of course, isclosed.
(02:34):
South Kaibab remains closedbecause of the smoke. Bright
Angel Trail below HavasupaiGardens is closed. The River
Trail between Pipe Creek andSouth Kaibab, that's been closed
for the waterline projectanyway. Tonto between Tip-off
and Havasupai Gardens remainsclosed as well, as do Phantom
Ranch and Bright AngelCampgrounds. And the North Rim,
(02:55):
of course, will remain closedfor the entirety of the 2025
season and maybe much longerthan that.
We just do not know. Andtonight, well, there is a little
bit of a new threat, though I dowant to stress it is minimal at
this point. But crews areassessing what to do with Kaibab
(03:16):
Lodge outside the park shouldthat become truly threatened. It
is preemptive what they're doingright now. They're just
assessing the situation, buteven talking about it, even
talking about it does show usthat this fire is not slowing
down.
Rob Roy Williams of theSouthwest Area Incident
Management Team 4 briefed themedia earlier today.
Rob Roy Williams (03:38):
One of the other big things that, we'll be
having our firefighters do is,go up and start evaluating,
structure protection needsaround the Kaiabab Lodge and the
gas station. Right now, that'soutside of anywhere of our
primary control lines. But whatwe don't wanna have happen is if
we do potentially get a spotfire activity picks up, we wanna
(04:01):
make sure that we protect thosevalues there, so we we can
ensure that there'd be no damagefrom the fire. We think that's
kind of a low probability, butwe definitely, don't wanna make
any assumptions, and we wannamake sure that that, that those
structures, and that value staystays good for the duration of
the fire.
Brian (04:21):
Meanwhile, around the lodge and developed area of the
North Rim, well, there's alittle bit of potential good
news, I guess you could say.
Rob Roy Williams (04:29):
Down around the developed area on the
Southeast corner of the fire, wecontinue to have our structure
group and firefighters downthere working, mopping up,
securing around the structures.One of the big things that, they
were able to to start working onyesterday is some, hazard tree
removal. So they started workingaround, the North Rim Hilla
(04:49):
Base. And today, they're gonnabe coming in down around the
admin loop and evaluating thosetrees and and taking a look at
which ones are fire weakenedthat can potentially come down
in the future and, get those putdown on the ground and and
remove those hazards so we can,look at, you know, trying to get
folks back in that area as soonas we can to just kinda start
(05:12):
evaluating, you know, theirplaces and get their their
personal belongings.
Brian (05:16):
I know there are many anxious folks hoping that
happens and soon. Closer to theNorth Kaibab Trailhead now we
still haven't heard a word fromanyone about the fate of the
trailhead area or anything belowthe rim. So all we can do is
speculate, which is extremely,extremely frustrating,
especially considering maps showthe fire is burned all the way
(05:38):
down to Supai Tunnel, which is1.7 miles down the trail. But
adjacent to North Kaibab, justabove it, is the Ken Patrick
Trail.
Rob Roy Williams (05:47):
There is a couple trails, the Ken Patrick
Trail in there, and we're gonnabe evaluating to see if there
may be any options to go directin there with some firefighters
and maybe some equipment. Somaybe we can just lock in that
corner of the fire so we don'thave any, additional growth. So
they'll be up there today reallyevaluating that and coming up
(06:09):
with a plan to see if that's aviable option for us. As well as
just some of the other values atrisk we have over there, our our
firefighters went out there.They've got the Green Lake
Cabin.
It's all wrapped. We've got somesprinklers around it. So that's
looking really well. As well asthere at the, Bright Angel
Canyon, there there's an old oldhistorical water tank there.
(06:31):
They were able to go in and putsome mitigation measures in
place there, just so we cankinda protect that that
historical value right there forany fire infringement in the
future.
Brian (06:42):
Back on the north side of the fire, let's talk about
Highway 67. That's the mainentrance into the park, the road
you pick up at Jacob Lake andtake in the rest of the way,
past Kaibab Lodge and the gasstation, and those gorgeous
rolling meadows where you seethe bison sometimes, and then
finally through the gate at theentrance station where you pay
your fee and get your map. Well,crews have been working back
(07:04):
toward that entrance stationsince yesterday.
Rob Roy Williams (07:07):
They've continued to prep that all the
way up to the park entrance.That's looking real good. As
well as they were able, to do alittle bit start the mitigation
work around the North Parkentrance and the structure.
There's a few structures just onthe west side of that. They they
went in there, did a little bitof work in there yesterday.
(07:27):
They're gonna be back in theretoday. We're gonna put some
structure wrap, which isbasically some foil, type
material that can go aroundthose wooden structures that
kinda help protect it from emberwash and radiant heat. And
they'll do that with the, NorthCabin entrance as well as the
structures there on the Westside. They'll also be setting up
(07:50):
some sprinkler kits and a tankaround that area as well too so
we can protect that value, fromany impact to the Dragon Bravo
fire.
Brian (07:59):
It was a bit interesting today that there was no mention
whatsoever of the fire below therim, which I guess I guess is
good news, but I'm just notsure. These press briefings are
fine, but without reportershaving the ability to ask
questions, they are only sovaluable. Which brings up
another topic, one that issomeone who's been in the media
(08:21):
in one form or another for mostof my adult life is extremely,
extremely important to me.Transparency and accountability,
especially when it involves thegovernment and public entities.
Remember, we are talking abouttaxpayer funded entities.
They are the public. They areme. They are you. And often it
(08:42):
seems they forget that at alllevels of government. I'm not
saying that that's happenedhere, but others are starting
to.
Now we had Kroqi Meshkin on theother night, and you no doubt
remember how serious and stoicthat he presents himself. Well,
there's some growing frustrationout there from those actually
affected by the fire, and here'swhat Krocke posted on his
(09:05):
Facebook page earlier today.
Krocky (09:07):
The fire in the Grand Canyon is bigger than ever
today. It is continuing to grow.Today, July 18, marks the one
week anniversary of the pressnot even being allowed to the
North Side of the Grand Canyonto document what is happening.
We are getting images leaked byNational Park Service employees.
We are getting images leaked byfirefighters.
(09:29):
However, the media is not evenallowed over there to cover as
this fire goes deeper down intothe canyon and is destroying a
national landmark. The leader ofour nation the leader of our
nation has not said a singleword, zero, about what is going
on at the Grand Canyon. We needyou guys. We need you guys to
(09:51):
share these videos. We need thisto get out there because people
are outraged.
I speak for everybody at theGrand Canyon. I mean, maybe 99%.
When I say, what the f is goingon? You guys need to share these
videos. You need to keep tellingthe story because these fires
are growing.
They have not gone out. This isnot natural. Every once in a
(10:13):
while, I get a hater in thecomments saying, boo hoo. It's a
lightning strike. Boo hoo.
This is natural. Theypurposefully allowed this fire
to grow to the size statementthat they purposefully allowed
this fire to grow. We need totalk about this people.
Brian (10:31):
So the situation continues and that is the update
for today. The anticipation isfor the fire again to start
growing again this weekend ashot and dry conditions return.
Hopefully, there's a big monsoonstorm that hammers this fire
first, but I'm just not sure howmuch optimism that there is for
(10:51):
that. Oh, by the way, don'tforget to grab one of those
North Rim Rising tees on ourwebsite,
hiking.club.hiking.club. Allprofits will go to those
affected by this fire.
We just added a women's cuttoday to go with our unisex tee
and our hoodie, North RimRising, all with a cool design
(11:11):
featuring Brighty, the Burrow,and the Grand Canyon Lodge.
Again, please check those out.It's all going to a good cause
at hiking.club, hikin.club.Alright. We will be back as
events unfold.
In the meantime, please join theconversation in our Hiking Grand
Canyon Facebook group. I amposting updates in there as I
(11:32):
get them, and I'm doing it allday long. I think that that is
probably one of the best placesfor you to stay informed. So
please join us there in theHiken Grand Canyon private
Facebook group. In the meantime,have a great weekend everybody.
My name is Brian Special, andthis is the Grand Canyon Hiker
Dude Show presented by Hiken.Hiking plus kinship, that is
(11:53):
Hiken. Together, we roam.
This is the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show presented by
Hiken. Hiking plus kinship.That's Hiken. Together, we roam.
Here's your host, my hubby, andcofounder of Hiken, Brian
Special.
Brian (00:18):
Alright. It is Friday, 07/18/2025, a week ago at this
time. Man, I mean, who knew thatwe would be in this predicament?
A year ago today, I surfaced onthe North Rim at the end of a
fairly rough overnight rim torim. I met my parents who were
camping in their RV.
We had lunch at the lodge. Istayed in the motel that night.
(00:41):
And, oh, what I would not do tohave those days back again. But
here we are two weeks to theday, two weeks to the day from
the start of the Dragon Bravofire lightning caused, and so so
much has happened, and itappears so so much is still to
come. As of this morning, thefire has consumed 11,742 acres.
(01:08):
There are 662 personnel assignedto this fire. And most daunting
of all, containment still sitsat 0%. From the morning
briefing, cooler, wetter weatherhelps slow fire behavior
temporarily. The fire, though,is expected to intensify yet
(01:29):
again as hotter, drier weatherreturns for the weekend. Crews
are continuing to build firelines, clear hazardous trees
around the North Riminfrastructure, and assess and
protect structures.
Maybe a little bit of good news,but for very few people, Boat
Beach at the bottom of thecanyon in the Phantom Ranch area
(01:50):
is now open again for riverrunners to refill their water,
which they can do at the spigotdown there. So that's a little
bit of good news. Again, mop upand tree removal in the
administrative loop area. Crewsare working with utility teams
to evaluate fire damage to powerlines and generators, and then
there is protection still goingon preemptively at many, many
(02:14):
places. Some rim some rainThursday.
Missed the fire zone,unfortunately. Didn't they
didn't get too much of it. 40%chance of rain today, and then
hot and dry conditions returnfor the weekend, the worst
possible news that we couldhave. Closures. Still North
Kaibab Trail, of course, isclosed.
(02:34):
South Kaibab remains closedbecause of the smoke. Bright
Angel Trail below HavasupaiGardens is closed. The River
Trail between Pipe Creek andSouth Kaibab, that's been closed
for the waterline projectanyway. Tonto between Tip-off
and Havasupai Gardens remainsclosed as well, as do Phantom
Ranch and Bright AngelCampgrounds. And the North Rim,
(02:55):
of course, will remain closedfor the entirety of the 2025
season and maybe much longerthan that.
We just do not know. Andtonight, well, there is a little
bit of a new threat, though I dowant to stress it is minimal at
this point. But crews areassessing what to do with Kaibab
(03:16):
Lodge outside the park shouldthat become truly threatened. It
is preemptive what they're doingright now. They're just
assessing the situation, buteven talking about it, even
talking about it does show usthat this fire is not slowing
down.
Rob Roy Williams of theSouthwest Area Incident
Management Team 4 briefed themedia earlier today.
Rob Roy Williams (03:38):
One of the other big things that, we'll be
having our firefighters do is,go up and start evaluating,
structure protection needsaround the Kaiabab Lodge and the
gas station. Right now, that'soutside of anywhere of our
primary control lines. But whatwe don't wanna have happen is if
we do potentially get a spotfire activity picks up, we wanna
(04:01):
make sure that we protect thosevalues there, so we we can
ensure that there'd be no damagefrom the fire. We think that's
kind of a low probability, butwe definitely, don't wanna make
any assumptions, and we wannamake sure that that, that those
structures, and that value staystays good for the duration of
the fire.
Brian (04:21):
Meanwhile, around the lodge and developed area of the
North Rim, well, there's alittle bit of potential good
news, I guess you could say.
Rob Roy Williams (04:29):
Down around the developed area on the
Southeast corner of the fire, wecontinue to have our structure
group and firefighters downthere working, mopping up,
securing around the structures.One of the big things that, they
were able to to start working onyesterday is some, hazard tree
removal. So they started workingaround, the North Rim Hilla
(04:49):
Base. And today, they're gonnabe coming in down around the
admin loop and evaluating thosetrees and and taking a look at
which ones are fire weakenedthat can potentially come down
in the future and, get those putdown on the ground and and
remove those hazards so we can,look at, you know, trying to get
folks back in that area as soonas we can to just kinda start
(05:12):
evaluating, you know, theirplaces and get their their
personal belongings.
Brian (05:16):
I know there are many anxious folks hoping that
happens and soon. Closer to theNorth Kaibab Trailhead now we
still haven't heard a word fromanyone about the fate of the
trailhead area or anything belowthe rim. So all we can do is
speculate, which is extremely,extremely frustrating,
especially considering maps showthe fire is burned all the way
(05:38):
down to Supai Tunnel, which is1.7 miles down the trail. But
adjacent to North Kaibab, justabove it, is the Ken Patrick
Trail.
Rob Roy Williams (05:47):
There is a couple trails, the Ken Patrick
Trail in there, and we're gonnabe evaluating to see if there
may be any options to go directin there with some firefighters
and maybe some equipment. Somaybe we can just lock in that
corner of the fire so we don'thave any, additional growth. So
they'll be up there today reallyevaluating that and coming up
(06:09):
with a plan to see if that's aviable option for us. As well as
just some of the other values atrisk we have over there, our our
firefighters went out there.They've got the Green Lake
Cabin.
It's all wrapped. We've got somesprinklers around it. So that's
looking really well. As well asthere at the, Bright Angel
Canyon, there there's an old oldhistorical water tank there.
(06:31):
They were able to go in and putsome mitigation measures in
place there, just so we cankinda protect that that
historical value right there forany fire infringement in the
future.
Brian (06:42):
Back on the north side of the fire, let's talk about
Highway 67. That's the mainentrance into the park, the road
you pick up at Jacob Lake andtake in the rest of the way,
past Kaibab Lodge and the gasstation, and those gorgeous
rolling meadows where you seethe bison sometimes, and then
finally through the gate at theentrance station where you pay
your fee and get your map. Well,crews have been working back
(07:04):
toward that entrance stationsince yesterday.
Rob Roy Williams (07:07):
They've continued to prep that all the
way up to the park entrance.That's looking real good. As
well as they were able, to do alittle bit start the mitigation
work around the North Parkentrance and the structure.
There's a few structures just onthe west side of that. They they
went in there, did a little bitof work in there yesterday.
(07:27):
They're gonna be back in theretoday. We're gonna put some
structure wrap, which isbasically some foil, type
material that can go aroundthose wooden structures that
kinda help protect it from emberwash and radiant heat. And
they'll do that with the, NorthCabin entrance as well as the
structures there on the Westside. They'll also be setting up
(07:50):
some sprinkler kits and a tankaround that area as well too so
we can protect that value, fromany impact to the Dragon Bravo
fire.
Brian (07:59):
It was a bit interesting today that there was no mention
whatsoever of the fire below therim, which I guess I guess is
good news, but I'm just notsure. These press briefings are
fine, but without reportershaving the ability to ask
questions, they are only sovaluable. Which brings up
another topic, one that issomeone who's been in the media
(08:21):
in one form or another for mostof my adult life is extremely,
extremely important to me.Transparency and accountability,
especially when it involves thegovernment and public entities.
Remember, we are talking abouttaxpayer funded entities.
They are the public. They areme. They are you. And often it
(08:42):
seems they forget that at alllevels of government. I'm not
saying that that's happenedhere, but others are starting
to.
Now we had Kroqi Meshkin on theother night, and you no doubt
remember how serious and stoicthat he presents himself. Well,
there's some growing frustrationout there from those actually
affected by the fire, and here'swhat Krocke posted on his
(09:05):
Facebook page earlier today.
Krocky (09:07):
The fire in the Grand Canyon is bigger than ever
today. It is continuing to grow.Today, July 18, marks the one
week anniversary of the pressnot even being allowed to the
North Side of the Grand Canyonto document what is happening.
We are getting images leaked byNational Park Service employees.
We are getting images leaked byfirefighters.
(09:29):
However, the media is not evenallowed over there to cover as
this fire goes deeper down intothe canyon and is destroying a
national landmark. The leader ofour nation the leader of our
nation has not said a singleword, zero, about what is going
on at the Grand Canyon. We needyou guys. We need you guys to
(09:51):
share these videos. We need thisto get out there because people
are outraged.
I speak for everybody at theGrand Canyon. I mean, maybe 99%.
When I say, what the f is goingon? You guys need to share these
videos. You need to keep tellingthe story because these fires
are growing.
They have not gone out. This isnot natural. Every once in a
(10:13):
while, I get a hater in thecomments saying, boo hoo. It's a
lightning strike. Boo hoo.
This is natural. Theypurposefully allowed this fire
to grow to the size statementthat they purposefully allowed
this fire to grow. We need totalk about this people.
Brian (10:31):
So the situation continues and that is the update
for today. The anticipation isfor the fire again to start
growing again this weekend ashot and dry conditions return.
Hopefully, there's a big monsoonstorm that hammers this fire
first, but I'm just not sure howmuch optimism that there is for
(10:51):
that. Oh, by the way, don'tforget to grab one of those
North Rim Rising tees on ourwebsite,
hiking.club.hiking.club. Allprofits will go to those
affected by this fire.
We just added a women's cuttoday to go with our unisex tee
and our hoodie, North RimRising, all with a cool design
(11:11):
featuring Brighty, the Burrow,and the Grand Canyon Lodge.
Again, please check those out.It's all going to a good cause
at hiking.club, hikin.club.Alright. We will be back as
events unfold.
In the meantime, please join theconversation in our Hiking Grand
Canyon Facebook group. I amposting updates in there as I
(11:32):
get them, and I'm doing it allday long. I think that that is
probably one of the best placesfor you to stay informed. So
please join us there in theHiken Grand Canyon private
Facebook group. In the meantime,have a great weekend everybody.
My name is Brian Special, andthis is the Grand Canyon Hiker
Dude Show presented by Hiken.Hiking plus kinship, that is
(11:53):
Hiken. Together, we roam.
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