Wildfire near Municipio San Rafael (Aug 26)
Imagery: Sentinel-2 SWIR (Copernicus) — infrared, sees through smoke. 🟢 vegetation · 🟤 burned · 🟠 active fire.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
An active wildfire spanning 480 hectares (1,186 acres) continues to burn near Municipio San Rafael, Bolivia, having started on August 26, 2026. Orbiting satellites are currently picking up an intense heat signature from the front, while 21 separate thermal detections cluster nearby over the past 48 hours to mark the fire's ongoing spread across the landscape during the dry season.
This incident unfolds against a broader national backdrop of 721,844 hectares burned across the country so far in 2026, a figure that remains 89% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Bolivia for 1 day. So far it has affected roughly 500 ha (1,236 acres) — about 5.0 km².
Close to the tropics, fires tend to follow the dry season and are often linked to land-clearing rather than a single summer peak.
The bigger picture in Bolivia
Across Bolivia, roughly 721,844 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 89% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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