Fire Near Machu Picchu Access Road Leaves One Dead

A fire burning along the primary access route to Machu Picchu killed one person and injured two others on Friday in the Cusco region of southern Peru. The blaze started in the populated community of Yanahuara, located in Urubamba province within the Sacred Valley. The area holds the main railway and roadway corridors that visitors use to reach the 15th-century Inca citadel.

An older man died in the fire, Miguel Oscco of the Cusco regional emergency operations center told the radio station RPP. Officials have not yet confirmed the man's identity. Two other people sustained second-degree burns and received emergency transport to the Cusco Regional Hospital for treatment, Oscco said.

The fire started after local farmers burned brush to clear land for crops, according to disaster management officials. Oscco said intense solar radiation, dry vegetation and high winds caused the flames to spread quickly through the valley. The conditions have hindered containment efforts, leaving the fire out of control.

Local resident Gustavo Lozano told RPP that the blaze burns near residential areas and travel pathways. He said tourism buses routinely pass a few hundred meters from the active flames. The Sacred Valley contains the primary train stations where travelers board rail services bound for the town of Aguas Calientes at the base of the sanctuary.

Machu Picchu sits at an altitude of about 2,430 meters in the Andes mountains and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Seasonal fires frequently threaten the surrounding sanctuary during dry periods, when rural agricultural burning can escape control on steep slopes.

Firefighters and emergency response units are working to establish containment lines and protect nearby communities and transit routes. Regional authorities continue to monitor fire activity along the access corridor to determine whether road or rail closures will be necessary.