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BO · Bolivia · –

San Miguel fire, July 2024 San Miguel, Concepción

Out · last detection 7 Aug 2024, 06:04 UTC

The fire started on 14 July 2024 in San Miguel, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,037 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 776th largest in Santa Cruz since 2016 (of 784 with a page). Number 291 in Bolivia in 2024, of 295.

Burnt area
3,037ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
25days
14 Jul 2024 – 7 Aug 2024
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
14 Jul
2024
Heat detections
271
in a single hotspot: 49 MW
Danger at start
26
High · FWI index
Average daily power
77MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Jul7 Aug
7 Aug 2024

How it evolved, day by day

14 Jul 2024 · 1 MW · 1 15 Jul 2024 · 8 MW · 2 16 Jul 2024 · 2 MW · 2 18 Jul 2024 · 9 MW · 1 19 Jul 2024 · 32 MW · 8 20 Jul 2024 · 23 MW · 8 21 Jul 2024 · 6 MW · 1 23 Jul 2024 · 6 MW · 2 24 Jul 2024 · 16 MW · 3 25 Jul 2024 · 114 MW · 10 26 Jul 2024 · 46 MW · 13 27 Jul 2024 · 45 MW · 7 28 Jul 2024 · 149 MW · 17 29 Jul 2024 · 185 MW · 27 30 Jul 2024 · 12 MW · 3 31 Jul 2024 · 215 MW · 13 1 Aug 2024 · 371 MW · 23 2 Aug 2024 · 129 MW · 36 3 Aug 2024 · 94 MW · 34 4 Aug 2024 · 49 MW · 21 5 Aug 2024 · 2 MW · 1 6 Aug 2024 · 245 MW · 27 7 Aug 2024 · 19 MW · 11
14 Jul 20 Jul 26 Jul 1 Aug 5 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

34°high
68km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 16.9 mm on 8 Aug.

This area had burned before

91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,207 ha in 2016, 137 ha in 2017, 213 ha in 2018, 3,053 ha in 2019, 451 ha in 2020, 226 ha in 2021, 906 ha in 2022, 144 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,751 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.9% of the area of London (30 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. San Miguel 15,329 inhabitants where it started
    2,843 ha reached on 14 Jul
    0.3 %
  2. Concepción 93,392 inhabitants
    207 ha reached on 2 Aug
    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 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)
14 Jul 20.7 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
15 Jul 23.2 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Jul 28.6 °C 36 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
17 Jul 28.9 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Jul 31.8 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
19 Jul 32.7 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
20 Jul 31.9 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
21 Jul 33.1 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 Jul 30.6 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Jul 32.7 °C 28 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Jul 33.3 °C 25 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Jul 32.8 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Jul 34.0 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
27 Jul 34.2 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
28 Jul 33.8 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Jul 25.6 °C 53 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Jul 26.2 °C 48 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
31 Jul 33.6 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 Aug 34.0 °C 32 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
2 Aug 33.4 °C 35 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
3 Aug 33.1 °C 36 % 67 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
4 Aug 31.9 °C 42 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 38
5 Aug 34.4 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
6 Aug 33.2 °C 30 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
7 Aug 30.9 °C 49 % 53 km/h 7.4 mm Very high 39
8 Aug after 22.5 °C 80 % 44 km/h 16.9 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 26.1, a minimum humidity of 39% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2022: 2.

FWI at the start 26.1
Minimum humidity 39 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Pontes e Lacerda fire, November 2023
15,314 ha 19 days FWI 15.6 Min. humidity 40 % 240 km away, in 2023

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 35.9 mm on 20 Nov.

What happened to them

Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 2. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.

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

16.9 mmfirst rain
8 Augthe day after it ended
68km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 7 Aug, and on 8 Aug 16.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out.

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 2022.
  • 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 · 7 Jul 2024
After · 14 Aug 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 20 July 2024 the air beside the fire reached 93 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 52: 3.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak93 µg/m³
Days over the guideline23 days
PM10132 µg/m³
Optical depth2.37
16 Jul22 Jul28 Jul3 Aug9 Aug
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 · 271Every 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 Miguel fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 July 2024 to 7 August 2024 (25 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 July 2024 to 7 August 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,037 hectares (30.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: San Miguel (2,843 ha, 0.3 %); Concepción (207 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, class Extreme.
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

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 18 July 2024 → 14 July 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 18 July 2024 to 7 August 2024. 271 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.