Dragon Bravo Fire Incident Management Team hosts public meeting in Fredonia; promise after-action report

On the evening of August 5, 2025, a com­bined team of fire re­sponse officials, includ­ing the United States Park Service, United States Forest Service and Southwest Com­plex Incident Manage­ment Team Two hosted a public meeting, in­cluding a question-and-answer session, in Fredonia to inform the public on the progress on the Dragon Bravo fire. The early phase of the meeting was dedicated to the cur­rent fire prevention strategies, lines and potential directions the fire could take. The team described the priority of holding the fire lines between the fire’s progress and nearby communities and critical natural assets.

Photo by Celeste Meyeres.

Representatives of the Parks and Forest services acknowledged the economic and emo­tional impact of the fire on local communities, with Scott Rodgers, Agency Administra­tor for the Kaibab National Forest, stat­ing, “We are working as quickly as possible, around the clock to suppress this fire, and as safely as possible for our firefighters on the line … we are utilizing direct attacks where possible, and the most safe opportunities for firefighters to engage the fire where possible … I just want to be transparent with you all, this is going to be a long-term event in terms of recovery ef­forts.”

When the team opened the floor for questions, the public’s concerns generally fol­lowed one of two lines: how and when locals would be allowed to access the lands and resources currently closed off by fire pro­tection services, and whether government services and policies had been negligent and allowed the fire to burn in its early stages - and if they had, who would be held accountable for change and reparations. While the former line of ques­tions had respective answers, most of the latter were answered with a similar line, as stated by one of the panel members: “I will tell you that those are good questions, and when the appropriate time comes, there will be a review … this mo­ment, this meeting, is not the intent for that type of question.” Said another, “We are still in the middle of a very aggressive firefight … that’s a reasonable question that I can’t answer right now … there’s nothing that happens in your fed­eral government that is not available to you through a FOIA [Freedom of Informa­tion Act request],” to which members of the crowd responded with audible laughter. The Incident Manage­ment Team concluded the topic by stating it was not relevant to the current fighting of the fire and repair­ing damage done, and that the appropriate time for those sorts of questions is after the fire is controlled when after-action reviews are being performed.

Duke Reidhead , whose logging com­pany has been con­tracted to help with firefighting efforts and as a consultant based on his company’s per­sistent operations in the forests of the area in recent years, stood to speak on the topic of policy change and public concern, stat­ing, “We’ve been here since 1985, on almost every fire, and I can say: guys, things are changing up there, they have been listen­ing … there are things happening up there on the ground that I haven’t seen since 1985. There’s a lot of changes happening up there to help this for­est … I support what they’re doing, I agree with the emotions guys … we need to support and continue to drive this issue … these guys are helping behind the scenes, it may not look like it, but it’s happen­ing.”

Nicole Branton, Su­pervisor of the Kai­bab National Forest, stood as the concluding speaker of the evening, stating, “I just want to thank you all, you’ve actually been very generous with us … I can’t pretend to un­derstand, but I’ve been listening, I appreciate hearing your emotion, I hear how important this place is to you … it is helpful to us to hear your specific concerns. I want to thank you for being generous to the people we call in … this isn’t the end of the conversation, this is the beginning.”

Further updates will be available on the Dragon Bravo Incident Management Team’s Facebook page, includ­ing daily reports and context on the fire. Incident Management Team Two confirmed they will be rotating out in coming weeks, and the next team on the rotation will be taking up the responsi­bility for future public information.