LIVE | Grand Canyon's Dragon Bravo Fire Reaches 'Megafire' Status | Grand Canyon LIVE | N18G - video Dailymotion

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LIVE | Grand Canyon's Dragon Bravo Fire Reaches 'Megafire' Status | Grand Canyon LIVE | N18G   LIVE , Grand Canyon's Dragon Bravo Fire Reaches 'Megafire', Status ,Grand Canyon LIVE , N18G,CNN NEWS   #DragonBravoFire #GrandCanyonFire #Wildfire2025  A wildfire that broke out in Grand Canyon National Park has now been deemed a "megafire" due to its size.   The Dragon Bravo fire ignited from a lightning strike on July 4. As firefighters readied to contain the blaze, fire conditions rapidly changed, causing the fire to explode in size.   As of Friday, the Dragon Bravo Fire has burned 111,970 acres, becoming a "megafire" – a term given by the U.s. Forest Service when a fire reaches over 100,000 acres.   #DragonBravoFire #GrandCanyonFire #Wildfire2025 #GrandCanyonLodge #NorthRimClosure #Megafire #news18live   n18oc_live  n18oc_world

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00:00And then the third piece is the fuel that it's burning through. You think of a campfire, right?

00:05You put the wood on the campfire, that is the fuel.

00:08Along the Grand Canyon's north rim, the Dragon Bravo fire is now the largest wildfire in the

00:14U.S. mainland. Crews are bracing for worsening weather today as they work through bone dry

00:20conditions, heavy winds, and extreme heat, trying to get the fire under control. The fire is just

00:2611% contained. The fire was sparked by lightning on July 4th and has now scorched nearly 180 square

00:34miles of land. That's about three times the size of Washington, D.C. Experts say the fire is

00:42intensifying enough to create its own weather, in fact. This time-lapse video shows a fire cloud

00:48forming in the sky, which tend to form over raging wildfires and volcanic eruptions. Joining us right

00:55now to discuss is Lisa Jennings, a firefighter and fire information officer with the Southwestern

01:01Incident Management Team, and she's also joined by her interpreter. Lisa, great to see you.

01:07So you're bracing for more critical fire weather today after a more humid day on Friday. What is the

01:15latest there? Yesterday, we had a great window of opportunity, and it was really the first good

01:22weather day we've had in almost two weeks. We keep saying even a good weather day on this fire would

01:29be a bad weather day on any other fire. But what it did is it allowed our firefighters to essentially

01:35go on the offense, get close in on the fire, and try to increase containment on this fire that's been

01:42incredibly hard to contain. Wow. I mean, these pictures are extraordinary. You've, you know,

01:48talked about fire clouds being spotted over the Dragon Bravo fire, which can eventually generate

01:53lightning, wind gusts, and sometimes even produce tornadoes. Tell us more about this threat,

01:59how prevalent it has become during the battling of this fire.

02:05Yeah. So that red cloud that you see on that clip, that, the technical term is a pyrocumulus cloud,

02:12and that's just, as you said, it is a fire cloud. So that superheated moisture that's released when a

02:19fire is burning fast and hot through vegetation, as that rises up off the fire, it forms this cloud.

02:26That cloud is over 24,000 feet in the air, which for a normal cloud, that's about the height that

02:33clouds are at. But if you think this cloud originates on the ground, so an immensely high smoke column,

02:40what happens when it gets that high and forms into that fire cloud is then it begins pulling

02:46additional smoke and fuels into it. So it gets an updraft wind. And if it can get high enough,

02:52that wind can become a downdraft and spread fire out in all directions. That's what we really watch for.

03:00Our number one objective is firefighter safety. So when those fire clouds form, that's when we have

03:05to pull back and go on the defense. I mean, that's unbelievably dangerous, you know, on top of a job

03:11that is already dangerous. So the latest update, you know, showing that the fire is just 11 percent

03:17contained. The fire was at 26 percent containment at the end of last week, but then dry heat,

03:23gusty conditions, you know, erase much of the progress from the last few days. So is there anything

03:29that can be done to combat kind of this record dryness? Does it change the way in which, you know,

03:35you try to attack this blaze? Yeah, fire spread has been really tough to combat. When a fire grows,

03:44there are three things that go into it. The first is the weather, and that's the piece that's been

03:49really against us. We've had historically dry conditions for almost 10 days now, except that small

03:55window we had yesterday. The second piece is the terrain here at the Grand Canyon. So we, you can

04:03see the canyon behind us. It's beautiful to look at, but imagine going in there and trying to fight a

04:08fire. The Grand Canyon and the canyons that come off of it, they call those kind of finger canyons

04:14coming off the main one. They create their own wind tunnels, and that is very hard to fight.

04:20And then the third piece is the fuel that it's burning through. You think of a campfire,

04:25right? You put the wood on the campfire, that is the fuel. Along the Grand Canyon's north rim,

04:31the Dragon Bravo fire is now the largest wildfire in the U.S. mainland. Crews are bracing for worsening

04:37weather today as they work through bone dry conditions, heavy winds, and extreme heat,

04:43trying to get the fire under control. The fire is just 11% contained. The fire was sparked by

04:50lightning on July 4th and has now scorched nearly 180 square miles of land. That's about three times

04:58the size of Washington, D.C. Experts say the fire is intensifying enough to create its own weather. In

05:05fact, this time-lapse video shows a fire cloud forming in the sky, which tend to form over raging

05:12wildfires and volcanic eruptions. Joining us right now to discuss is Lisa Jennings, a firefighter,

05:19and fire information officer with the Southwestern Incident Management Team. And she's also joined

05:24by her interpreter. Lisa, great to see you. So you're bracing for more critical fire weather today

05:31after a more humid day on Friday. What is the latest there?

05:38Yesterday, we had a great window of opportunity, and it was really the first good weather day we've

05:44had in almost two weeks. We keep saying even a good weather day on this fire would be a bad weather

05:50day on any other fire. But what it did is it allowed our firefighters to essentially go on the

05:56offense, get close in on the fire, and try to increase containment on this fire that's been

06:02incredibly hard to contain. Wow. I mean, these pictures are extraordinary. You've, you know,

06:08talked about fire clouds being spotted over the Dragon Bravo fire, which can eventually generate

06:14lightning, wind gusts, and sometimes even produce tornadoes. Tell us more about this threat,

06:19how prevalent it has become during the battling of this fire.

06:26Yeah. So that red cloud that you see on that clip, that, the technical term is a pyrocumulus cloud.

06:32And that's just, as you said, it is a fire cloud. So that's super heated moisture that's released

06:39when a fire is burning fast and hot through vegetation. As that rises up off the fire,

06:45it forms this cloud. That cloud is over 24,000 feet in the air, which for a normal cloud,

06:52that's about the height that clouds are at. But if you think this cloud originates on the ground,

06:57so an immensely high smoke column, what happens when it gets that high and forms into that fire

07:04cloud is then it begins pulling additional smoke and fuels into it. So it gets an updraft wind. And

07:12if it can get high enough, that wind can become a downdraft and spread fire out in all directions.

07:18That's what we really watch for. Our number one objective is firefighter safety. So when those fire

07:24clouds form, that's when we have to pull back and go on the defense.

07:27I mean, that's unbelievably dangerous, you know, on top of a job that is already dangerous. So the

07:34latest update, you know, showing that the fire is just 11% contained. The fire was at 26% containment

07:41at the end of last week, but then dry heat, gusty conditions, you know, erase much of the progress

07:46from the last few days. So is there anything that can be done to combat kind of this record dryness?

07:53Does it change the way in which, you know, you try to attack this blaze?

07:59Yeah, fire spread has been really tough to combat. When a fire grows, there are three things that go

08:06into it. The first is the weather. And that's the piece that's been really against us. We've had

08:11historically dry conditions for almost 10 days now, except that small window we had yesterday.

08:17The second piece is the terrain here at the Grand Canyon. So we you can see the canyon behind us,

08:24it's beautiful to look at. But imagine going in there and trying to fight a fire. The Grand Canyon

08:30and the canyons that come off of it, they call those kind of finger canyons coming off the main one,

08:36they create their own wind tunnels. And that is very hard to fight. And then the third piece is the

08:42fuel that it's burning through. You think of a campfire, right? You put the wood on the campfire,

08:47that is the fuel along the Grand Canyon's North Rim. The Dragon Bravo fire is now the largest wildfire

08:54in the U.S. mainland. Crews are bracing for worsening weather today as they work through

09:00bone dry conditions, heavy winds and extreme heat trying to get the fire under control. The fire

09:06is just 11% contained. The fire was sparked by lightning on July 4th and has now scored nearly

09:13180 square miles of land. That's about three times the size of Washington, D.C. Experts say the fire

09:22is intensifying enough to create its own

LIVE | Grand Canyon's Dragon Bravo Fire Reaches 'Megafire' Status | Grand Canyon LIVE | N18G

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