Peru's Fire Toll Rises as State Counts Its Gaps

Wildfires across Peru’s Andes have killed 12 people and affected 832, mostly through burns, Luis Enrique Vásquez Guerrero, head of Peru’s National Institute of Civil Defence (Indeci), told Exitosa on Monday 19 October. Fires are burning in highland regions, including Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu. Twelve fires remained active; officials controlled another 12. Officials have counted people caught in the flames, but the national scale of the damage remains unclear.

Vásquez listed four deaths in Cusco, three in Cajamarca, two in Apurímac, two in Pasco and one in Puno. He called Río Tambo, in Junín, the most critical case, with four active fires. The report gave no national figure for hectares burned, did not locate three of the 12 active fires, and did not say when Indeci started counting deaths. Indeci’s written releases didn’t repeat the 12-death total.

What officials can account for

The reported toll doubled the six deaths counted in early October. Daily Correo reported five deaths in Cusco and one in Puno on Thursday 8 October. Andina had reported a wildfire death in Pasco on Thursday 6 August, meaning the total may cover the entire dry season. Figures have arrived in fragments, with no clear start date for the count.

Transport Minister José Angello Tangherlini said, “there are prevention actions that have not been carried out on time.” He said El Niño projections had circulated since March 2026, adding, “The previous government had full knowledge of what awaited us with this El Niño phenomenon.” Tangherlini named no previous-government official in the passages Exitosa published. President Keiko Fujimori took office on 28 July. Tangherlini said her government focused on preparation because time had passed and prevention requires permanent works.

Tangherlini said crews had completed 70% of work at 536 critical points nationwide, matching figures Fujimori gave on Thursday 15 October, according to El Peruano. He also said desilting had restored the Piura River’s channel capacity to a level not seen in 50 years. At the La Leche bridge in Lambayeque, concessionaire IIRSA Norte had started using machinery to clear the riverbed and protect the structure. The Ministry of Transport and Communications’ 14 October release listed channel cleaning and spot repairs. No independent check supported either the 70% figure or the 50-year claim.

Warnings without a wildfire link

ENFEN put an “Alert of Coastal El Niño” in force in Communiqué 18-2026, issued Friday 16 October. It said coastal warming would most likely stay “extraordinary”—3.5 degrees Celsius (6.3 degrees Fahrenheit) or more above normal—until January 2027. Its chart gave an extraordinary event a 98% chance in October and 95% in November.

ENFEN expected above-normal rain on the north and central coasts for the rest of 2026, with river flows above normal from November in the Tumbes, Chira, Piura, La Leche and Jequetepeque rivers. For the southern highlands and the Amazon, it expected normal to below-normal rain and warned of water rationing if the central and southern highlands faced a rainfall deficit. The communiqué didn’t mention wildfires, and the report found no link between the fires and El Niño in the sources it reviewed.

The report describes no grassroots relief, mutual aid or community-organized response. Instead, it focuses on official tallies, government claims and work whose progress hasn’t received an independent check. A Chamber of Deputies release said its infrastructure committee would summon Tangherlini to report on Tuesday 20 October; officials didn’t confirm whether the session went ahead. The report also said it remained unclear which officials in the earlier government had failed to act.

For travelers, Indeci and Defence Ministry fire releases reviewed for 5 to 17 October mentioned no tourist-site, road or rail closure. The U.S. State Department’s Peru advisory, dated 8 September 2026, rates the country Level 2, “Exercise Increased Caution,” and says nothing about wildfires or El Niño. Travellers booked on treks in Cusco, Apurímac or Puno were advised to ask operators about smoke and access. Fire notices confirm no closures; travelers must seek information themselves.