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BO · Bolivia · –

Huacaraje fire, 1 September 2022 Huacaraje

Out · last detection 2 Oct 2022, 17:53 UTC

The fire started on 1 September 2022 in Huacaraje, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 32 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,480 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 684th largest in Beni since 2016 (of 859 with a page). Number 175 in Bolivia in 2022, of 222.

Burnt area
3,480ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
32days
1 Sept 2022 – 2 Oct 2022
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
1 Sept
2022
Heat detections
216
in a single hotspot: 137 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Average daily power
114MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 1 Sept2 Oct
2 Oct 2022

How it evolved, day by day

1 Sept 2022 · 34 MW · 5 5 Sept 2022 · 71 MW · 6 6 Sept 2022 · 6 MW · 1 7 Sept 2022 · 360 MW · 19 8 Sept 2022 · 129 MW · 16 9 Sept 2022 · 34 MW · 9 10 Sept 2022 · 221 MW · 10 11 Sept 2022 · 2 MW · 1 12 Sept 2022 · 13 MW · 2 13 Sept 2022 · 8 MW · 2 14 Sept 2022 · 3 MW · 2 15 Sept 2022 · 101 MW · 8 16 Sept 2022 · 17 MW · 4 17 Sept 2022 · 16 MW · 2 18 Sept 2022 · 171 MW · 22 19 Sept 2022 · 28 MW · 3 20 Sept 2022 · 44 MW · 5 21 Sept 2022 · 1,049 MW · 42 22 Sept 2022 · 2 MW · 1 24 Sept 2022 · 78 MW · 10 25 Sept 2022 · 8 MW · 2 26 Sept 2022 · 218 MW · 16 27 Sept 2022 · 210 MW · 23 28 Sept 2022 · 8 MW · 4 2 Oct 2022 · 7 MW · 1
1 Sept 9 Sept 14 Sept 21 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
47km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.0 mm on 4 Oct.

This area had burned before

85% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,817 ha in 2017, 643 ha in 2018, 3,392 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,970 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.2% of the area of London (35 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. Huacaraje 4,630 inhabitants where it started
    3,495 ha reached on 1 Sept
    0.6 %

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 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)
1 Sept 35.1 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
2 Sept 36.6 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Sept 31.5 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
4 Sept 31.0 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 Sept 33.0 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Sept 33.8 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Sept 35.5 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
8 Sept 35.0 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 Sept 36.4 °C 40 % 35 km/h 0.4 mm High 32
10 Sept 29.0 °C 50 % 38 km/h 0.6 mm High 27
11 Sept 29.7 °C 41 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
12 Sept 34.7 °C 41 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
13 Sept 35.0 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
14 Sept 29.7 °C 48 % 42 km/h 3.0 mm Moderate 12
15 Sept 28.9 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
16 Sept 32.4 °C 33 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Sept 35.8 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
18 Sept 36.5 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Sept 36.6 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Sept 36.6 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 33
21 Sept 36.8 °C 38 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Sept 33.1 °C 49 % 35 km/h 3.5 mm Low 10
23 Sept 27.8 °C 52 % 37 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 12
24 Sept 34.1 °C 36 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
25 Sept 36.0 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
26 Sept 35.8 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
27 Sept 36.0 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
28 Sept 35.4 °C 44 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
29 Sept 27.4 °C 57 % 44 km/h 18.5 mm Very low 4
30 Sept 29.1 °C 54 % 32 km/h 1.2 mm Low 6
1 Oct 33.3 °C 46 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
2 Oct 34.0 °C 46 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
3 Oct after 34.9 °C 45 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
4 Oct after 33.9 °C 51 % 31 km/h 3.0 mm Low 6

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 29.0, a minimum humidity of 34% and 12 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 30.

FWI at the start 29.0
Minimum humidity 34 %
Days without rain 12
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Baures fire, October 2020
3,245 ha 6 days FWI 29.4 Min. humidity 34 % 93 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 7.3 mm on 15 Oct.

What happened to them

10 days
median duration
4,886 ha
median area
20 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 25 of 30 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (3,480 ha against a median of 4,886 ha) and lasted 32 days, against 10 days.

In 5 of 30, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.8 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

3.0 mmfirst rain
4 Oct2 days after it ended
47km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 2 Oct, and on 4 Oct 3.0 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 25 of 30, with a median of 3.8 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 25 Aug 2022
After · 9 Oct 2022

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 6 September 2022 the air beside the fire reached 456 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 293: 20 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak456 µg/m³
Days over the guideline27 days
PM10652 µg/m³
Optical depth2.42
3 Sept9 Sept15 Sept21 Sept27 Sept
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 · 216Every 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 Huacaraje fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 1 September 2022 to 2 October 2022 (32 days). The perimeter dates it from 5 September 2022 to 26 September 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,480 hectares (34.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Huacaraje (3,495 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 47 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 30. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 4,886 ha; 20 % went past 10,000 ha. In 5 of 30, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.8 mm.

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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 26 September 2022 → 2 October 2022.
  2. Start date: 5 September 2022 → 1 September 2022.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 5 September 2022 to 26 September 2022. 216 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 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

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.