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Concepción fire, 31 July 2019 Concepción, San Javier, Urubichá

Out · last detection 5 Oct 2019, 05:13 UTC

The fire started on 31 July 2019 in Concepción, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 67 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 221,128 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 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:

It is the 8th largest in Santa Cruz since 2016 (of 836 with a page). Number 2 in Bolivia in 2019, of 219.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Concepción · 2016Concepción · 2022Concepción · 2019Concepción · 2024

Burnt area
221,128ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
67days
31 Jul 2019 – 5 Oct 2019
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
31 Jul
2019
Heat detections
19,265
in a single hotspot: 234 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.6GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Jul5 Oct
5 Oct 2019

How it evolved, day by day

31 Jul 2019 · 9 MW · 4 1 Aug 2019 · 20 MW · 6 2 Aug 2019 · 35 MW · 4 3 Aug 2019 · 2 MW · 1 4 Aug 2019 · 50 MW · 11 5 Aug 2019 · 19 MW · 5 6 Aug 2019 · 33 MW · 7 7 Aug 2019 · 140 MW · 26 8 Aug 2019 · 162 MW · 21 9 Aug 2019 · 101 MW · 13 10 Aug 2019 · 5 MW · 1 11 Aug 2019 · 439 MW · 53 12 Aug 2019 · 404 MW · 75 13 Aug 2019 · 1,004 MW · 152 14 Aug 2019 · 2,622 MW · 422 15 Aug 2019 · 1,336 MW · 286 16 Aug 2019 · 2,075 MW · 378 17 Aug 2019 · 4,151 MW · 657 18 Aug 2019 · 1,578 MW · 420 19 Aug 2019 · 303 MW · 45 20 Aug 2019 · 534 MW · 117 21 Aug 2019 · 2,961 MW · 252 22 Aug 2019 · 1,437 MW · 348 23 Aug 2019 · 5,144 MW · 700 24 Aug 2019 · 4,044 MW · 592 25 Aug 2019 · 1,727 MW · 237 26 Aug 2019 · 584 MW · 101 27 Aug 2019 · 267 MW · 159 28 Aug 2019 · 594 MW · 97 29 Aug 2019 · 2,482 MW · 343 30 Aug 2019 · 1,152 MW · 248 31 Aug 2019 · 262 MW · 67 1 Sept 2019 · 348 MW · 148 2 Sept 2019 · 2,410 MW · 572 3 Sept 2019 · 1,065 MW · 345 4 Sept 2019 · 1,347 MW · 225 5 Sept 2019 · 1,397 MW · 206 6 Sept 2019 · 1,079 MW · 249 7 Sept 2019 · 2,938 MW · 573 8 Sept 2019 · 2,948 MW · 499 9 Sept 2019 · 6,677 MW · 708 10 Sept 2019 · 1,463 MW · 287 11 Sept 2019 · 274 MW · 73 12 Sept 2019 · 230 MW · 32 13 Sept 2019 · 2,459 MW · 648 14 Sept 2019 · 4,443 MW · 699 15 Sept 2019 · 4,589 MW · 627 16 Sept 2019 · 2,287 MW · 281 17 Sept 2019 · 1,179 MW · 302 18 Sept 2019 · 2,015 MW · 533 19 Sept 2019 · 4,045 MW · 679 20 Sept 2019 · 818 MW · 197 21 Sept 2019 · 1,537 MW · 288 22 Sept 2019 · 2,442 MW · 441 23 Sept 2019 · 9,273 MW · 1526 24 Sept 2019 · 4,520 MW · 1386 25 Sept 2019 · 242 MW · 108 26 Sept 2019 · 341 MW · 41 27 Sept 2019 · 387 MW · 105 28 Sept 2019 · 1,360 MW · 382 29 Sept 2019 · 3,330 MW · 751 30 Sept 2019 · 1,887 MW · 398 1 Oct 2019 · 28 MW · 29 2 Oct 2019 · 2 MW · 2 3 Oct 2019 · 133 MW · 24 4 Oct 2019 · 79 MW · 50 5 Oct 2019 · 3 MW · 3
31 Jul 10 Aug 20 Aug 30 Aug 9 Sept 19 Sept 23 Sept 29 Sept

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

37°high
75km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 25 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.9 mm on 6 Oct.

This area had burned before

5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,965 ha in 2016, 1,752 ha in 2017, 1,370 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 11,070 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.4 times the area of London (2,211 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Concepción 93,392 inhabitants where it started
    207,548 ha reached on 31 Jul
    7.1 %
  2. San Javier 14,888 inhabitants
    15,279 ha reached on 2 Aug
    6.7 %
  3. Urubichá 6,555 inhabitants
    4 ha
    0.0 %

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.

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)
31 Jul 32.6 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
1 Aug 32.3 °C 35 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
2 Aug 22.1 °C 24 % 75 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
3 Aug 22.2 °C 22 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
4 Aug 23.4 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
5 Aug 26.9 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
6 Aug 30.7 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Aug 32.3 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
8 Aug 32.2 °C 44 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
9 Aug 31.0 °C 44 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
10 Aug 26.9 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Aug 32.9 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
12 Aug 33.3 °C 35 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
13 Aug 26.3 °C 34 % 65 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Aug 24.7 °C 24 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Aug 31.0 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
16 Aug 33.4 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Aug 32.8 °C 36 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Aug 32.3 °C 46 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
19 Aug 28.3 °C 46 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Aug 30.4 °C 39 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
21 Aug 31.7 °C 37 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Aug 33.5 °C 39 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm High 25
23 Aug 30.0 °C 41 % 48 km/h 0.6 mm High 30
24 Aug 33.8 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Aug 34.4 °C 38 % 37 km/h 1.3 mm High 22
26 Aug 32.4 °C 44 % 44 km/h 0.3 mm High 25
27 Aug 30.3 °C 56 % 31 km/h 4.9 mm Very low 4
28 Aug 33.1 °C 40 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
29 Aug 33.5 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Aug 34.5 °C 41 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
31 Aug 34.3 °C 38 % 41 km/h 2.3 mm Moderate 15
1 Sept 28.0 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
2 Sept 32.3 °C 42 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
3 Sept 32.2 °C 41 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
4 Sept 32.5 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
5 Sept 32.3 °C 38 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
6 Sept 34.9 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
7 Sept 35.6 °C 34 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
8 Sept 35.5 °C 30 % 53 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
9 Sept 35.3 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Sept 35.0 °C 36 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
11 Sept 34.4 °C 44 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Sept 26.5 °C 46 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Sept 31.4 °C 42 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Sept 35.1 °C 35 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Sept 35.7 °C 35 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Sept 36.6 °C 34 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Sept 33.3 °C 40 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Sept 33.9 °C 43 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Sept 34.6 °C 47 % 67 km/h 0.7 mm High 32
20 Sept 31.3 °C 54 % 48 km/h 4.0 mm Low 7
21 Sept 31.5 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Sept 32.6 °C 34 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Sept 35.4 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Sept 35.5 °C 40 % 24 km/h 0.5 mm High 26
25 Sept 30.8 °C 41 % 34 km/h 2.0 mm Moderate 14
26 Sept 32.7 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
27 Sept 34.7 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
28 Sept 35.5 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
29 Sept 35.3 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
30 Sept 35.4 °C 44 % 53 km/h 0.7 mm High 27
1 Oct 32.3 °C 50 % 62 km/h 1.9 mm Moderate 17
2 Oct 30.2 °C 52 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
3 Oct 30.5 °C 49 % 27 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 16
4 Oct 32.9 °C 47 % 32 km/h 5.4 mm Very low 5
5 Oct 25.7 °C 73 % 43 km/h 16.7 mm Very low 0
6 Oct after 18.2 °C 77 % 43 km/h 5.9 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 24 Jul 2019
After · 12 Oct 2019

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 19,265Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Bolivia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Concepción fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 31 July 2019 to 5 October 2019 (67 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 August 2019 to 4 October 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 221,128 hectares (2,211.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Concepción (207,548 ha, 7.1 %); San Javier (15,279 ha, 6.7 %); Urubichá (4 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 75 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very 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.

RSS Changes to this page

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 119 · 110.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 7 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 August 2019 to 4 October 2019. 19,265 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.