“Only the Brave” (the 2017 firefighter drama about the Granite Mountain Hotshots) was primarily filmed in New Mexico , with key locations in and around Santa Fe and Los Alamos, plus some scenes shot in Prescott, Arizona, to echo the real setting of the story.

Main filming locations

  • Santa Fe, New Mexico – Used as a production base and for many town and landscape scenes.
  • Los Alamos, New Mexico – Featured for hospital and other sequences.
  • Prescott, Arizona (Whiskey Row) – Used to capture the authentic atmosphere of the real Granite Mountain Hotshots’ hometown.

Why New Mexico and Arizona?

  • New Mexico offers varied terrain (mountains, forests, and high desert) that could stand in for different wildfire environments while staying relatively close together for the crew.
  • Shooting some material in Prescott, Arizona, helped ground the film in the real community connected to the Yarnell Hill Fire and the Granite Mountain crew.

TL;DR: If you’re wondering where was Only the Brave filmed , think New Mexico for most of the production (especially the Santa Fe and Los Alamos areas), with select scenes in Prescott, Arizona, to honor the real-life setting.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.