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Concepción fire, 12 August 2024 San Ignacio, Concepción, San Miguel

Out · last detection 8 Oct 2024, 05:00 UTC

The fire started on 12 August 2024 in Concepción, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 58 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 21,305 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 98th largest in Santa Cruz since 2016 (of 834 with a page). Number 31 in Bolivia in 2024, of 295.

Burnt area
21,305ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
58days
12 Aug 2024 – 8 Oct 2024
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
12 Aug
2024
Heat detections
5,089
in a single hotspot: 310 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
29.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

8 Oct 2024
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Aug8 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

37°high
56km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.4 mm on 10 Oct.

This area had burned before

59% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,770 ha in 2016, 8,397 ha in 2017, 1,475 ha in 2018, 4,009 ha in 2019, 3,270 ha in 2020, 4,239 ha in 2021, 10,687 ha in 2022, 7,529 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 12,517 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. San Ignacio 56,702 inhabitants
    10,744 ha
    0.2 %
  2. Concepción 93,392 inhabitants where it started
    9,792 ha
    0.3 %
  3. San Miguel 15,329 inhabitants
    979 ha
    0.1 %

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)
12 Aug 26.5 °C 18 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Aug 28.6 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Aug 33.6 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Aug 35.2 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 Aug 36.2 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Aug 36.2 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
18 Aug 35.8 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Aug 35.8 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
20 Aug 35.2 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Aug 36.2 °C 30 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
22 Aug 34.3 °C 35 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
23 Aug 29.1 °C 41 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Aug 24.3 °C 44 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Aug 20.5 °C 33 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Aug 25.7 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Aug 30.4 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
28 Aug 33.5 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
29 Aug 36.7 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
30 Aug 34.2 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Aug 32.7 °C 32 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Sept 28.5 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Sept 34.9 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
3 Sept 35.3 °C 26 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Sept 34.7 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
5 Sept 28.4 °C 33 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Sept 32.7 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
7 Sept 35.1 °C 19 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
8 Sept 36.2 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
9 Sept 37.1 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Sept 36.5 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
11 Sept 35.2 °C 35 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
12 Sept 32.2 °C 44 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 Sept 35.3 °C 35 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Sept 26.6 °C 63 % 48 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
15 Sept 25.9 °C 44 % 38 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 19
16 Sept 29.2 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Sept 33.7 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Sept 35.3 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm High 35
19 Sept 35.9 °C 35 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Sept 36.9 °C 34 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Sept 36.0 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
22 Sept 37.1 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
23 Sept 36.5 °C 34 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Sept 35.5 °C 35 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
25 Sept 36.9 °C 34 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Sept 35.5 °C 41 % 48 km/h 17.1 mm Low 11
27 Sept 28.4 °C 49 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
28 Sept 32.4 °C 42 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
29 Sept 35.4 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Sept 35.6 °C 43 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
1 Oct 35.4 °C 37 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Oct 36.6 °C 36 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
3 Oct 30.1 °C 47 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Oct 33.9 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
5 Oct 36.6 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
6 Oct 36.5 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
7 Oct 34.5 °C 41 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
8 Oct 37.0 °C 36 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
9 Oct after 34.5 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
10 Oct after 31.9 °C 52 % 52 km/h 2.4 mm Moderate 12

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Aug 2024
After · 15 Oct 2024

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 · Copernicus

On 7 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 1,714 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 1,056: 70 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak1,714 µg/m³
Days over the guideline60 days
PM102,451 µg/m³
Optical depth9.94
101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829301234567891011
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 5,089Every 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 12 August 2024 and 8 October 2024: 58 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 21,305 hectares (213.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: San Ignacio (10,744 ha, 0.2 %); Concepción (9,792 ha, 0.3 %); San Miguel (979 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, 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.