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BO · Bolivia · –

Huacaraje fire, 25 September 2024 Huacaraje

Out · last detection 16 Oct 2024, 18:22 UTC

The fire started on 25 September 2024 in Huacaraje, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,135 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 399th largest in Beni since 2016 (of 859 with a page). Number 159 in Bolivia in 2024, of 295.

Burnt area
5,135ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
22days
25 Sept 2024 – 16 Oct 2024
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
25 Sept
2024
Heat detections
261
in a single hotspot: 95 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
126MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Sept16 Oct
16 Oct 2024

How it evolved, day by day

25 Sept 2024 · 3 MW · 1 26 Sept 2024 · 5 MW · 2 27 Sept 2024 · 0 MW · 0 28 Sept 2024 · 376 MW · 30 29 Sept 2024 · 219 MW · 28 1 Oct 2024 · 280 MW · 37 2 Oct 2024 · 194 MW · 18 3 Oct 2024 · 23 MW · 10 5 Oct 2024 · 5 MW · 2 6 Oct 2024 · 285 MW · 27 7 Oct 2024 · 54 MW · 16 8 Oct 2024 · 167 MW · 13 9 Oct 2024 · 70 MW · 10 10 Oct 2024 · 15 MW · 2 11 Oct 2024 · 130 MW · 34 12 Oct 2024 · 179 MW · 29 16 Oct 2024 · 6 MW · 2
25 Sept 28 Sept 5 Oct 9 Oct 16 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
44km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.8 mm on 17 Oct.

This area had burned before

93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,139 ha in 2016, 165 ha in 2017, 3,176 ha in 2018, 1,472 ha in 2019, 81 ha in 2020, 85 ha in 2021, 4,937 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,785 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.2% of the area of London (51 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
    5,165 ha reached on 25 Sept
    0.9 %

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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside 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)
25 Sept 38.5 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
26 Sept 36.6 °C 39 % 34 km/h 1.0 mm High 31
27 Sept 31.2 °C 43 % 41 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 19
28 Sept 35.2 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
29 Sept 37.6 °C 34 % 23 km/h 0.1 mm High 26
30 Sept 35.4 °C 46 % 35 km/h 1.4 mm High 35
1 Oct 37.0 °C 36 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
2 Oct 37.8 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
3 Oct 32.9 °C 45 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
4 Oct 33.2 °C 42 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
5 Oct 37.4 °C 33 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
6 Oct 39.0 °C 34 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Oct 35.8 °C 44 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
8 Oct 37.5 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 40
9 Oct 37.2 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 38
10 Oct 34.9 °C 45 % 44 km/h 4.2 mm Moderate 17
11 Oct 35.4 °C 45 % 42 km/h 5.5 mm High 29
12 Oct 38.2 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
13 Oct 38.1 °C 35 % 29 km/h 1.6 mm High 24
14 Oct 34.6 °C 48 % 17 km/h 0.1 mm Low 10
15 Oct 36.7 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Oct 34.3 °C 49 % 33 km/h 2.2 mm High 23
17 Oct after 33.1 °C 56 % 37 km/h 7.8 mm Very low 2

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 38.6, a minimum humidity of 36% and 10 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.

FWI at the start 38.6
Minimum humidity 36 %
Days without rain 10
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Magdalena fire, August 2022
16,384 ha 24 days FWI 39.6 Min. humidity 37 % 103 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.1 mm on 22 Sept.

What happened to them

8 days
median duration
7,517 ha
median area
47 %
went past 10,000 ha
5.5 mm
rain at the end (median; 13 of 15 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (5,135 ha against a median of 7,517 ha) and lasted 22 days, against 8 days.

In 2 of 15, 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 5.5 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

7.8 mmfirst rain
17 Octthe day after it ended
44km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 16 Oct, and on 17 Oct 7.8 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 13 of 15, with a median of 5.5 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 · 18 Sept 2024
After · 23 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 3 October 2024 the air beside the fire reached 254 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 194: 13 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak254 µg/m³
Days over the guideline29 days
PM10363 µg/m³
Optical depth11.53
18 Sept24 Sept30 Sept6 Oct12 Oct
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 · 261Every 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 25 September 2024 to 16 October 2024 (22 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 September 2024 to 13 October 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,135 hectares (51.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Huacaraje (5,165 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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.
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: 15. Their median duration was 8 days and their median area 7,517 ha; 47 % went past 10,000 ha. In 2 of 15, 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 5.5 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: 13 October 2024 → 16 October 2024.
  2. Start date: 26 September 2024 → 25 September 2024.

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 26 September 2024 to 13 October 2024. 261 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.

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.