Overview
- Regional emergency agencies report a multi-month wave of about 115–120 forest fires since June with an October spike that has left thousands of hectares burned and active outbreaks still reported by COER in regions such as Ayacucho and Huancavelica.
- Fires have caused confirmed deaths and severe injuries, including a recent fatality in Apurímac and a seventh wildfire-related death in Cusco after a 65-year-old patient with extensive burns died in hospital.
- Urban incidents have added a criminal and forensic burden: investigators are examining a hybrid pickup that exploded while charging in La Molina, a suspected arson that destroyed a firefighters’ utility vehicle in Los Olivos, and a gasoline attack during a Huancayo demolition that left nine municipal workers burned and prompted criminal complaints.
- Responders say limited frontline capacity is constraining operations, with officials and experts calling for many more trained local firefighters (batefuegos), coordinated brigades, and rapid aerial assets such as helicopters and water buckets to reach remote, hard‑to‑access ignitions.
- Peru’s 2025 multisector plan and increased budget for aircraft and equipment face uneven execution at the regional level, and authorities warn that El Niño‑linked dry, hot conditions raise the risk of further spread and demand faster delivery of personnel, training and material support.