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Gov. Katie Hobbs questioned why the U.S. government decided to manage the Dragon Bravo fire, which started with a lightning strike, as a “controlled burn” during the height of the summer.
July 14, 2025Updated 6:13 p.m. ET
As a wildfire at Grand Canyon National Park that left dozens of structures in cinders continued to flare on Monday, Arizona’s governor and its two U.S. senators questioned the federal government’s decision to manage the blaze using a strategy that preventively burns fuel-rich vegetation.
The Dragon Bravo fire, which was ignited by a lightning strike on July 4, according to a wildfire tracking website, had grown to more than 5,700 acres by Monday, shutting down access to trails through the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park and destroying the historic Grand Canyon Lodge and other structures.
“While the flame was started with a lightning strike, the federal government chose to manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer,” the governor, Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said in a statement. She called for an independent investigation.
“An incident of this magnitude demands intense oversight and scrutiny into the federal government’s emergency response,” she said. “They must first take aggressive action to end the wildfire and prevent further damage.”
In a letter to Doug Burgum, the secretary of the Interior Department, on Monday, Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona demanded “an analysis of what factors went into the decision to treat this fire as a controlled burn.”
“We cannot allow these decisions to damage thousands of acres in Northern Arizona, risk the health and safety of residents, and destroy landmarks like the historic Grand Canyon Lodge,” the senators, both of whom are Democrats, wrote. The Park Service is part of the Interior Department.
