Loreto fire, September 2020 Loreto, Villa Tunari
The fire started on 25 September 2020 in Loreto, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,661 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 679th largest in Beni since 2016 (of 902 with a page). Number 157 in Bolivia in 2020, of 211.
- Burnt area
- 3,661ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 25 Sept 2020 – 28 Sept 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 25 Sept
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 87
- in a single hotspot: 74 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 799MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 3 Oct.
This area had burned before
41% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 457 ha in 2017, 724 ha in 2018, 638 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,497 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
3,677 ha0.5 %
-
Villa Tunari 334,685 inhabitants7 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Sept | 38.5 °C | 34 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 26 Sept | 36.8 °C | 39 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 27 Sept | 36.7 °C | 40 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 28 Sept | 28.7 °C | 64 % | 41 km/h | 12.3 mm | Very low 1 |
| 29 Sept after | 33.6 °C | 47 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 7 |
| 30 Sept after | 35.5 °C | 40 % | 49 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 1 Oct after | 36.7 °C | 37 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 2 Oct after | 37.5 °C | 36 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 3 Oct after | 37.1 °C | 41 % | 31 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 14 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 87Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 14,845 haLoreto10 September 2025 · 8 days · 14 km away
- 37,586 haVilla Tunari5 November 2023 · 14 days · 16 km away
- 17,297 haLoreto29 October 2019 · 8 days · 24 km away
- 13,171 haLoreto6 September 2016 · 6 days · 25 km away
- 23,756 haLoreto25 September 2021 · 14 days · 29 km away
- 17,168 haLoreto17 October 2023 · 12 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Loreto fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 September 2020 and 28 September 2020: 4 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 3,661 hectares (36.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Loreto (3,677 ha, 0.5 %); Villa Tunari (7 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.5 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, 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.
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
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.