San Rafael fire, July 2017 San Rafael
The fire started on 12 July 2017 in San Rafael, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,057 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 816th largest in Santa Cruz since 2016 (of 834 with a page). Number 121 in Bolivia in 2017, of 123.
- Burnt area
- 3,057ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 22days
- 12 Jul 2017 – 2 Aug 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 12 Jul
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 371
- in a single hotspot: 106 MW
- Danger at start
- 25
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 248MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.0 mm on 11 Aug.
This area had burned before
31% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 953 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
3,079 ha0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Jul | 32.4 °C | 42 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 13 Jul | 32.4 °C | 39 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 14 Jul | 32.6 °C | 44 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 15 Jul | 32.4 °C | 46 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 16 Jul | 28.7 °C | 57 % | 48 km/h | 6.1 mm | Low 6 |
| 17 Jul | 13.3 °C | 36 % | 50 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 18 Jul | 17.9 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 19 Jul | 21.9 °C | 38 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 20 Jul | 26.2 °C | 39 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 21 Jul | 30.3 °C | 45 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 22 Jul | 32.4 °C | 42 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 23 Jul | 33.0 °C | 41 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 24 Jul | 34.1 °C | 38 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 25 Jul | 34.8 °C | 38 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 26 Jul | 33.6 °C | 33 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 27 Jul | 33.0 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 28 Jul | 32.9 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Jul | 33.0 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 30 Jul | 32.8 °C | 34 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Jul | 33.2 °C | 34 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 1 Aug | 33.2 °C | 36 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 2 Aug | 28.9 °C | 44 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 3 Aug after | 25.3 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 4 Aug after | 28.4 °C | 47 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 5 Aug after | 32.0 °C | 38 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Aug after | 33.2 °C | 35 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 7 Aug after | 34.4 °C | 35 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 8 Aug after | 35.4 °C | 32 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 9 Aug after | 35.5 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 10 Aug after | 36.3 °C | 34 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 11 Aug after | 35.6 °C | 40 % | 71 km/h | 4.0 mm | High 22 |
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 · 371Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the San Rafael fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 July 2017 and 2 August 2017: 22 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 3,057 hectares (30.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered San Rafael (3,079 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 56 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.
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.