The Dragon Bravo fire has been burning in Arizona for more than a month, stretching more than 100,000 acres. AccuWeather's Anna Azallion breaks down lightning's role in wildfires.

Grand Canyon Village

Smoke from the Dragon Bravo fire in northern Arizona, near the Grand Canyon's northern rim, has been visible as the fire continues to burn over 100,000 acres. While containment has recently improved, full control has not yet been achieved. The fire was ignited by lightning, a less common but significant cause of wildfires in the United States, especially under dry conditions.

Dry vegetation, exacerbated by moderate to extreme drought in the region, creates ideal conditions for wildfires to start and spread. The phenomenon of 'dry lightning'—where rain evaporates before reaching the ground or is insufficient to counteract the heat of lightning—can ignite fires when it strikes parched vegetation. However, most wildfires in the U.S. are still caused by human activity.

How lightning triggers wildfires

Mhm. You're looking at smoke from the Dragon Bravo fire in northern Arizona, right around the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. This has been burning for more than a month now, reaching more than 100,000 acres. Now, containment has jumped up recently, which is good news, but still have a long way to go to get this fire completely under control. And I want to talk about what started this fire. And actually, it starts most fires in the U. S. Well, most fires are human caused, whether that's accidental or arson. But this fire was started by lightning, which is a big contributor. When we take a look at fires across the southwest, I mean, there's plenty of them. But this, I believe, is the only major fire at this point that has been started by lightning. So let's talk about how this happens, because I know you might be a little confused because lightning comes with a thunderstorm, right, which usually comes with rain. Well, in the West, there's a couple different factors we have to think about. First, I want to talk about the dryness. Dry vegetation is perfect fuel for a wildfire, and that's why we're looking at the drought monitor. This gives you an indication of how dry it is in the southwest, specifically in northern Arizona, while it ranges from moderate to even extreme drought levels. So bottom line, perfect conditions for a wildfire to spark and to spread. Now let's talk about the thunderstorms themselves. Now it's a phenomenon called dry lightning. Now there's two ways that this kind of happens as far as lightning being able to start a wildfire. Now you either have the rain evaporating before it hits the ground. So dry lightning. It's just the lightning. You're not getting any rainfall with it, or there's some rain, but not enough to counteract the effects of that very hot lightning striking the dry vegetation and causing a fire. So just remember, this is not the majority of fires, not the way majority of fires are started, so you still need to take precautions.

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