Arizona’s largest wildfire occurred in May 2011; it was known as the Willow Fire, which burned over 539,000 acres and destroyed more than 36 structures. 

On July 4, the Dragon Bravo fire started when lightning struck the Grand Canyon, and it is already Arizona’s seventh-largest wildfire in history, having burned more than 143,974 acres, according to azcentral.com. This fire is currently burning on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Over 13 hundred firefighters are battling the blaze, which is 44 percent contained, moving away from civilization and destroying the foliage in the Grand Canyon. In the blaze of the Dragon Bravo fire, the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, founded in 1937, was destroyed by the blaze, which destroyed the surrounding cabins as well.

Though some people thought the monsoons could help contain the fires, they made them worse because the storms brought lightning, causing more fires. One of the fires, the Billy Fire, is currently burning in Gila County, and it has burned over 27,522 acres. 

The Woods fire, caused by lightning from a monsoon, is burning southeast of Sedona, and an “accurate mapping of the wildfire … puts it at 59 acres,” according to ein.az.gov.

Several fires are burning around Arizona, but students at Thunderbird don’t care as the fires aren’t close enough to harm them. The Dragon Bravo fire’s size is close to making history, but it’s burning in the Grand Canyon and isn’t going to hurt anyone.