Baures fire, 10 August 2024 Baures, Magdalena
The fire started on 10 August 2024 in Baures, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 75 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 134,466 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.
Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:
- 32,085 haBaures12 August 2024 · 29 days
- 20,223 haSão Francisco do Guaporé26 September 2024 · 22 days
- 18,796 haMagdalena17 September 2024 · 20 days
- 17,787 haBaures19 September 2024 · 28 days
- 8,423 haBaures30 September 2024 · 14 days
- 6,581 haBaures26 August 2024 · 16 days
- 5,950 haAlta Floresta D'OesteOctober 2024 · 4 days
- 4,282 haBaures21 September 2024 · 13 days
It is the largest fire in Beni since 2016 (of 903 with a page). Number 6 in Bolivia in 2024, of 295.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 134,466ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 75days
- 10 Aug 2024 – 23 Oct 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 10 Aug
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 12,138
- in a single hotspot: 538 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 1.9GW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.0 mm on 24 Oct.
This area had burned before
85% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 15,816 ha in 2016, 6,489 ha in 2017, 5,668 ha in 2018, 3,682 ha in 2019, 53,010 ha in 2020, 70,607 ha in 2021, 48,491 ha in 2022, 53,357 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 114,204 ha that had burned before.
- 23,636 ha Magdalena fire, September 2020 30,494 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 19,922 ha Baures fire, October 2023 30,869 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 19,602 ha Magdalena fire, September 2021 25,480 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 19,026 ha Magdalena fire, September 2022 35,295 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 11,169 ha Magdalena fire, September 2021 23,784 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,885 ha Magdalena fire, August 2022 16,384 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,222 ha Magdalena fire, September 2020 20,502 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,559 ha Baures fire, October 2021 7,023 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
82,793 ha reached on 10 Aug4.6 %
-
Magdalena 12,785 inhabitants52,552 ha reached on 10 Aug3.7 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
The weather day by day
ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Aug | 26.3 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 11 Aug | 30.6 °C | 31 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 12 Aug | 30.7 °C | 24 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 13 Aug | 30.4 °C | 25 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 14 Aug | 34.3 °C | 28 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 15 Aug | 35.8 °C | 30 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 16 Aug | 36.4 °C | 32 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 17 Aug | 36.5 °C | 37 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 18 Aug | 36.4 °C | 37 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 19 Aug | 35.5 °C | 38 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 20 Aug | 36.5 °C | 37 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 21 Aug | 37.3 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 22 Aug | 35.6 °C | 39 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 23 Aug | 35.4 °C | 38 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 24 Aug | 33.5 °C | 44 % | 37 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 34 |
| 25 Aug | 24.9 °C | 39 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Aug | 26.4 °C | 31 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Aug | 31.0 °C | 32 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Aug | 33.6 °C | 31 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Aug | 36.5 °C | 29 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 30 Aug | 35.3 °C | 36 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Aug | 36.0 °C | 33 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 1 Sept | 32.9 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 2 Sept | 33.8 °C | 34 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 3 Sept | 36.2 °C | 32 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 4 Sept | 35.5 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 5 Sept | 30.0 °C | 41 % | 45 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 37 |
| 6 Sept | 32.2 °C | 36 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 7 Sept | 35.5 °C | 31 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 8 Sept | 36.2 °C | 33 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 Sept | 37.5 °C | 32 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 10 Sept | 37.1 °C | 35 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 11 Sept | 36.7 °C | 40 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 12 Sept | 35.6 °C | 50 % | 32 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 13 Sept | 37.4 °C | 35 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 14 Sept | 35.6 °C | 42 % | 27 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 28 |
| 15 Sept | 30.2 °C | 50 % | 37 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 29 |
| 16 Sept | 30.4 °C | 46 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 17 Sept | 34.3 °C | 43 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 18 Sept | 36.2 °C | 39 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Sept | 36.7 °C | 39 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 20 Sept | 38.1 °C | 34 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 21 Sept | 36.5 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 22 Sept | 37.7 °C | 33 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 23 Sept | 37.9 °C | 35 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Sept | 36.5 °C | 40 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 25 Sept | 37.5 °C | 40 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Sept | 36.5 °C | 42 % | 39 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 31 |
| 27 Sept | 29.9 °C | 48 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 32 |
| 28 Sept | 34.6 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Sept | 36.8 °C | 35 % | 18 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 30 |
| 30 Sept | 34.8 °C | 49 % | 32 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 1 Oct | 37.2 °C | 33 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 2 Oct | 37.4 °C | 35 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Oct | 32.7 °C | 49 % | 28 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 30 |
| 4 Oct | 33.3 °C | 45 % | 26 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 5 Oct | 36.4 °C | 36 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Oct | 38.1 °C | 36 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 7 Oct | 35.9 °C | 43 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 8 Oct | 37.0 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 34 |
| 9 Oct | 37.1 °C | 37 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 10 Oct | 34.6 °C | 47 % | 36 km/h | 1.7 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 11 Oct | 36.7 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Oct | 37.6 °C | 38 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 13 Oct | 38.6 °C | 32 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 14 Oct | 35.6 °C | 43 % | 19 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 24 |
| 15 Oct | 37.0 °C | 42 % | 24 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 16 Oct | 32.8 °C | 53 % | 30 km/h | 4.3 mm | Low 7 |
| 17 Oct | 33.3 °C | 53 % | 30 km/h | 1.8 mm | Low 9 |
| 18 Oct | 34.3 °C | 53 % | 30 km/h | 7.7 mm | Very low 4 |
| 19 Oct | 28.1 °C | 71 % | 28 km/h | 15.5 mm | Very low 0 |
| 20 Oct | 33.8 °C | 49 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 21 Oct | 34.0 °C | 52 % | 32 km/h | 0.8 mm | Low 8 |
| 22 Oct | 28.8 °C | 81 % | 23 km/h | 13.7 mm | Very low 0 |
| 23 Oct | 30.8 °C | 70 % | 27 km/h | 3.2 mm | Very low 0 |
| 24 Oct after | 34.0 °C | 59 % | 45 km/h | 3.0 mm | Very low 1 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 27 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 708 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 380: 25 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 12,138Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 20,502 haMagdalena25 September 2020 · 11 days · 4 km away
- 21,879 haMagdalena8 October 2025 · 19 days · 24 km away
- 23,784 haMagdalena13 September 2021 · 22 days · 27 km away
- 30,869 haBaures24 October 2023 · 27 days · 33 km away
- 25,480 haMagdalena18 September 2021 · 17 days · 33 km away
- 30,494 haMagdalena28 September 2020 · 26 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Baures fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 10 August 2024 to 23 October 2024 (75 days). The perimeter dates it from 10 August 2024 to 21 October 2024.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 134,466 hectares (1,344.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Baures (82,793 ha, 4.6 %); Magdalena (52,552 ha, 3.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.6 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Bolivia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
Where to verify it
A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.
Emergency number: 119 · 110 · Emergency number and official warnings ›
Satellite cross-check
History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
No changes since 24 October 2026.
Does something look wrong on this page?
This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.
Report an error
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 5 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 10 August 2024 to 21 October 2024. 12,138 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
Where this data comes from
The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (Public Domain). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.