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Concepción fire, 6 August 2019 Concepción, San Javier, Urubichá

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

The fire started on 6 August 2019 in Concepción, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 60 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.

It is the 8th largest in Santa Cruz since 2016 (of 834 with a page). Number 2 in Bolivia in 2019, of 219.

Burnt area
221,128ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
60days
6 Aug 2019 – 4 Oct 2019
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
6 Aug
2019
Heat detections
19,265
in a single hotspot: 234 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Energy released
105.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

5 Oct 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Aug4 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
72km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.7 mm on 13 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.

What happened to each town

  1. Concepción 93,392 inhabitants where it started
    207,548 ha
    7.1 %
  2. San Javier 14,888 inhabitants
    15,279 ha
    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 is from the town centre 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 30.9 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
1 Aug 31.2 °C 35 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Aug 21.3 °C 24 % 72 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Aug 22.0 °C 20 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
4 Aug 22.6 °C 19 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 Aug 25.2 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
6 Aug 28.9 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Aug 30.7 °C 38 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 Aug 30.3 °C 42 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
9 Aug 30.2 °C 45 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
10 Aug 27.7 °C 40 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Aug 31.9 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Aug 32.5 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Aug 25.5 °C 29 % 69 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
14 Aug 25.1 °C 20 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Aug 30.3 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Aug 32.7 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Aug 32.4 °C 33 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
18 Aug 31.4 °C 42 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Aug 29.9 °C 35 % 37 km/h 1.2 mm High 24
20 Aug 30.2 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Aug 31.3 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
22 Aug 32.7 °C 37 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
23 Aug 30.8 °C 40 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Aug 33.1 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Aug 32.6 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.8 mm High 27
26 Aug 30.8 °C 51 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
27 Aug 29.1 °C 61 % 31 km/h 7.5 mm Very low 2
28 Aug 31.6 °C 43 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
29 Aug 31.9 °C 40 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
30 Aug 32.7 °C 40 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
31 Aug 32.5 °C 46 % 37 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 14
1 Sept 26.7 °C 42 % 39 km/h 2.5 mm Low 10
2 Sept 31.5 °C 43 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
3 Sept 31.6 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
4 Sept 31.7 °C 35 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Sept 31.6 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
6 Sept 34.6 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
7 Sept 34.6 °C 32 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
8 Sept 34.6 °C 26 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Sept 34.2 °C 29 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Sept 33.3 °C 39 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Sept 31.9 °C 53 % 45 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
12 Sept 26.9 °C 48 % 57 km/h 3.5 mm Low 10
13 Sept 30.3 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
14 Sept 35.1 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
15 Sept 35.1 °C 30 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 Sept 35.8 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Sept 34.7 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Sept 34.1 °C 41 % 45 km/h 0.3 mm High 33
19 Sept 33.2 °C 46 % 68 km/h 0.6 mm High 32
20 Sept 32.9 °C 47 % 43 km/h 0.7 mm High 24
21 Sept 31.6 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Sept 32.7 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Sept 34.9 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Sept 35.3 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Sept 32.1 °C 35 % 43 km/h 1.2 mm High 27
26 Sept 32.7 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Sept 32.9 °C 33 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Sept 32.6 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.4 mm High 31
29 Sept 34.1 °C 45 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
30 Sept 31.5 °C 56 % 50 km/h 3.5 mm Low 9
1 Oct 29.9 °C 59 % 70 km/h 11.5 mm Very low 5
2 Oct 29.8 °C 60 % 42 km/h 1.0 mm Low 6
3 Oct 30.6 °C 57 % 38 km/h 8.4 mm Very low 2
4 Oct 29.7 °C 57 % 30 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 2
5 Oct after 26.0 °C 81 % 40 km/h 8.2 mm Very low 0
6 Oct after 21.4 °C 68 % 47 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 1
7 Oct after 28.3 °C 53 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 4
8 Oct after 30.6 °C 52 % 22 km/h 0.3 mm Low 6
9 Oct after 30.5 °C 50 % 25 km/h 0.1 mm Low 8
10 Oct after 32.8 °C 41 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
11 Oct after 30.8 °C 60 % 51 km/h 7.8 mm Very low 1
12 Oct after 31.6 °C 50 % 50 km/h 0.2 mm Low 6
13 Oct after 32.7 °C 48 % 60 km/h 2.7 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Jul 2019
After · 11 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?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 August 2019 and 4 October 2019: 60 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
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 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 72 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, 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

Satellite cross-check

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.

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.