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BO · Bolivia · –

San Ramón fire, 20 July 2016 Huacaraje, San Ramón

Out · last detection 4 Aug 2016, 17:40 UTC

The fire started on 20 July 2016 in San Ramón, Bolivia, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 16,390 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 70th largest in Beni since 2016 (of 858 with a page). Number 14 in Bolivia in 2016, of 187.

Burnt area
16,390ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
20 Jul 2016 – 4 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
20 Jul
2016
Heat detections
489
in a single hotspot: 303 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Average daily power
795MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Jul4 Aug
4 Aug 2016

How it evolved, day by day

20 Jul 2016 · 67 MW · 5 21 Jul 2016 · 292 MW · 17 22 Jul 2016 · 18 MW · 2 23 Jul 2016 · 281 MW · 18 24 Jul 2016 · 27 MW · 6 25 Jul 2016 · 653 MW · 14 26 Jul 2016 · 3,382 MW · 59 27 Jul 2016 · 1,017 MW · 71 28 Jul 2016 · 1,008 MW · 84 29 Jul 2016 · 284 MW · 21 30 Jul 2016 · 2,685 MW · 44 31 Jul 2016 · 1,181 MW · 59 1 Aug 2016 · 950 MW · 81 2 Aug 2016 · 17 MW · 6 4 Aug 2016 · 66 MW · 2
20 Jul 23 Jul 26 Jul 29 Jul 1 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

35°high
36km/h · peak gust
31%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 8 Aug.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 10% of the area of London (164 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
    16,118 ha
    2.9 %
  2. San Ramón 5,489 inhabitants where it started
    375 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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2015
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2015, 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)
20 Jul 28.4 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
21 Jul 30.2 °C 40 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
22 Jul 31.7 °C 41 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
23 Jul 32.3 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
24 Jul 32.9 °C 37 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Jul 34.0 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
26 Jul 34.4 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
27 Jul 30.4 °C 45 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Jul 32.0 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
29 Jul 33.4 °C 39 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
30 Jul 34.4 °C 31 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
31 Jul 34.8 °C 36 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
1 Aug 35.1 °C 37 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
2 Aug 32.8 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Aug 34.1 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
4 Aug 34.6 °C 37 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
5 Aug after 35.5 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Aug after 35.6 °C 37 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Aug after 36.1 °C 39 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
8 Aug after 32.6 °C 53 % 32 km/h 2.2 mm High 26

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 21.8, a minimum humidity of 39% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 48.

FWI at the start 21.8
Minimum humidity 39 %
Days without rain 3
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Baures fire, September 2016
3,185 ha 6 days FWI 22.3 Min. humidity 40 % 115 km away, in 2016

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 29.4 mm on 23 Sept.

What happened to them

11 days
median duration
4,722 ha
median area
31 %
went past 10,000 ha
5.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 46 of 48 had it)

It was 3.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 16 days, against 11 days.

Only 9 of its 48 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 2 of 48, 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 5.8 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

2.2 mmfirst rain
8 Aug4 days after it ended
36km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 4 Aug, and on 8 Aug 2.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 46 of 48, with a median of 5.8 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 · 13 Jul 2016
After · 11 Aug 2016

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 · 489Every 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 Ramón fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 July 2016 to 4 August 2016 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 July 2016 to 2 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 16,390 hectares (163.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Huacaraje (16,118 ha, 2.9 %); San Ramón (375 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.1 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.
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: 48. Their median duration was 11 days and their median area 4,722 ha; 31 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 9 of its 48 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 2 of 48, 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 5.8 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 21 July 2016 to 2 August 2016. 489 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 2015, 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.