How long did the San Joaquín fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 August 2020 to 4 October 2020 (43 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 August 2020 to 30 September 2020.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 65,508 hectares (655.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: San Ramón (35,812 ha, 4.4 %); San Joaquín (29,864 ha, 3.4 %); San Javier (399 ha, 0.0 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 37.6 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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.

BO · Bolivia · 2020-08-23 → 2020-10-04

San Joaquín fire, 23 August 2020 San Ramón, San Joaquín, San Javier

Out · last detection 4 Oct 2020, 18:42 UTC

The fire started on 23 August 2020 in San Joaquín, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 43 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 65,508 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in Beni since 2016 (of 902 with a page). Number 4 in Bolivia in 2020, of 211.

Compare with…

Suggestions: San Joaquín · 2016 San Ramón · 2019 San Ramón · 2016 San Joaquín · 2016

Burnt area: 65,508ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 43days; 23 Aug 2020 – 4 Oct 2020
Municipalities hit: 3; municipalities
Started on: 23 Aug; 2020
Heat detections: 3,068; in a single hotspot: 256 MW
Danger at start: 17; Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power: 1.1GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Aug4 Oct

Play back 4 Oct 2020

How it evolved, day by day

23 Aug 29 Aug 2 Sept 4 Sept 10 Sept 16 Sept 22 Sept 28 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

38°high

49km/h · peak gust

32%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

55% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 29,998 ha in 2016, 2,839 ha in 2017, 217 ha in 2018, 10,016 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 36,227 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 41% of the area of London (655 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

San Ramón 5,489 inhabitants

35,812 ha reached on 28 Aug

4.4 %
San Joaquín 6,808 inhabitants where it started

29,864 ha reached on 23 Aug

3.4 %
San Javier 7,913 inhabitants

399 ha reached on 17 Sept

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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020

Built-up area0.37 ha

Residents≈ 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.37 hectares of built-up land and about 20 residents (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)
23 Aug	27.8 °C	38 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
24 Aug	32.5 °C	41 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
25 Aug	34.3 °C	35 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
26 Aug	34.6 °C	36 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
27 Aug	36.0 °C	35 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
28 Aug	37.6 °C	32 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
29 Aug	35.8 °C	37 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
30 Aug	34.4 °C	51 %	30 km/h	1.9 mm	Low 10
31 Aug	31.0 °C	58 %	33 km/h	4.7 mm	Very low 4
1 Sept	32.7 °C	45 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
2 Sept	31.7 °C	42 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
3 Sept	33.1 °C	39 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
4 Sept	34.8 °C	40 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
5 Sept	36.1 °C	35 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
6 Sept	35.2 °C	41 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
7 Sept	32.7 °C	39 %	32 km/h	0.5 mm	High 27
8 Sept	33.3 °C	37 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
9 Sept	36.0 °C	37 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
10 Sept	36.5 °C	36 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
11 Sept	36.6 °C	36 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
12 Sept	35.0 °C	43 %	30 km/h	0.2 mm	High 26
13 Sept	36.1 °C	38 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
14 Sept	32.2 °C	56 %	36 km/h	2.0 mm	Low 10
15 Sept	30.1 °C	49 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
16 Sept	34.8 °C	41 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	High 21
17 Sept	35.2 °C	39 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
18 Sept	33.0 °C	52 %	22 km/h	1.5 mm	Moderate 11
19 Sept	34.8 °C	41 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
20 Sept	30.9 °C	55 %	41 km/h	12.0 mm	Low 6
21 Sept	30.6 °C	48 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
22 Sept	28.0 °C	48 %	41 km/h	3.2 mm	Low 6
23 Sept	34.4 °C	39 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
24 Sept	35.3 °C	43 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
25 Sept	36.4 °C	43 %	29 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 19
26 Sept	34.8 °C	49 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
27 Sept	34.2 °C	50 %	45 km/h	0.3 mm	High 22
28 Sept	30.0 °C	65 %	31 km/h	12.5 mm	Very low 1
29 Sept	32.7 °C	61 %	30 km/h	0.6 mm	Very low 3
30 Sept	33.8 °C	50 %	38 km/h	0.2 mm	Moderate 11
1 Oct	35.3 °C	43 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
2 Oct	36.3 °C	45 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
3 Oct	33.7 °C	54 %	24 km/h	0.4 mm	Moderate 15
4 Oct	36.6 °C	47 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
5 Oct after	36.3 °C	42 %	25 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 17
6 Oct after	35.5 °C	49 %	26 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 18
7 Oct after	34.3 °C	52 %	27 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 18
8 Oct after	36.4 °C	41 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
9 Oct after	37.1 °C	36 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
10 Oct after	37.0 °C	40 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
11 Oct after	36.5 °C	41 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
12 Oct after	34.9 °C	48 %	31 km/h	0.2 mm	High 24
13 Oct after	36.8 °C	41 %	24 km/h	0.5 mm	Moderate 21
14 Oct after	35.7 °C	47 %	27 km/h	0.3 mm	High 24

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 16 Aug 2020

After · 11 Oct 2020

Before After

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 · 3,068Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Bolivia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the San Joaquín fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 August 2020 to 4 October 2020 (43 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 August 2020 to 30 September 2020.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 65,508 hectares (655.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: San Ramón (35,812 ha, 4.4 %); San Joaquín (29,864 ha, 3.4 %); San Javier (399 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 37.6 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Viceministerio de Defensa Civil ↗

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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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.

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What really happened?

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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; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 August 2020 to 30 September 2020. 3,068 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.

Where it burned