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BO · Bolivia · –

San Javier fire, August 2017 Huacaraje, San Javier

Out · last detection 12 Aug 2017, 05:12 UTC

The fire started on 2 August 2017 in San Javier, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,139 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 395th largest in Beni since 2016 (of 858 with a page). Number 57 in Bolivia in 2017, of 123.

Burnt area
5,139ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
11days
2 Aug 2017 – 12 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
2 Aug
2017
Heat detections
181
in a single hotspot: 188 MW
Danger at start
35
High · FWI index
Average daily power
334MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 2 Aug12 Aug
12 Aug 2017

How it evolved, day by day

3 Aug 2017 · 147 MW · 10 4 Aug 2017 · 307 MW · 11 5 Aug 2017 · 315 MW · 27 6 Aug 2017 · 169 MW · 14 7 Aug 2017 · 757 MW · 30 8 Aug 2017 · 1,168 MW · 40 9 Aug 2017 · 374 MW · 32 10 Aug 2017 · 34 MW · 4 11 Aug 2017 · 66 MW · 12 12 Aug 2017 · 2 MW · 1
3 Aug 5 Aug 8 Aug 11 Aug

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
59km/h · peak gust
38%lowest humidity

It had gone 25 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.2 mm on 13 Aug.

This area had burned before

25% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,269 ha in 2016.

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
    5,091 ha
    0.9 %
  2. San Javier 7,913 inhabitants where it started
    84 ha
    0.0 %

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.

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)

Started with Strong wind: 9.5 % of the area in Bolivia

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
2 Aug 33.9 °C 38 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
3 Aug 26.7 °C 41 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
4 Aug 30.9 °C 45 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
5 Aug 32.7 °C 44 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
6 Aug 34.2 °C 41 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
7 Aug 35.1 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Aug 35.9 °C 38 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Aug 35.5 °C 41 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
10 Aug 35.3 °C 44 % 45 km/h 2.1 mm High 35
11 Aug 34.6 °C 50 % 53 km/h 3.3 mm Moderate 20
12 Aug 34.7 °C 48 % 59 km/h 2.7 mm Moderate 17
13 Aug after 32.7 °C 57 % 42 km/h 9.2 mm Moderate 12

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 35.1, a minimum humidity of 38% and 25 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 47.

FWI at the start 35.1
Minimum humidity 38 %
Days without rain 25
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

San Javier fire, September 2022
9,895 ha 20 days FWI 35.4 Min. humidity 37 % 53 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.0 mm on 29 Sept.

What happened to them

12 days
median duration
6,051 ha
median area
17 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.6 mm
rain at the end (median; 40 of 47 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (5,139 ha against a median of 6,051 ha) and lasted 11 days, against 12 days.

In 7 of 47, 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 3.6 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

9.2 mmfirst rain
13 Augthe day after it ended
59km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Aug, and on 13 Aug 9.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 40 of 47, with a median of 3.6 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 · 26 Jul 2017
After · 19 Aug 2017

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 · 181Every 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 San Javier fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 2 August 2017 to 12 August 2017 (11 days). The perimeter dates it from 4 August 2017 to 12 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,139 hectares (51.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Huacaraje (5,091 ha, 0.9 %); San Javier (84 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 38 % and gusts hit 59 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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: 47. Their median duration was 12 days and their median area 6,051 ha; 17 % went past 10,000 ha. In 7 of 47, 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 3.6 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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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 4 August 2017 to 12 August 2017. 181 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.

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.