Peruvian authorities say firefighters have brought a forest fire under control near the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu after three days of battling the blaze.
The fire near one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites broke out on Tuesday, destroying about 100 acres of land – the equivalent of about 50 football pitches.
The fire, which Peru’s culture ministry says has engulfed a remote area about six miles from the spectacular high-altitude citadel, was started by farmers clearing land to grow crops.
“We have already been fighting the forest fire for two days and it has not been possible to contain it because the area is quite inaccessible,” Roberto Abarca, director of the risk management and security office in Cusco, told Reuters on Thursday.
But by Thursday evening, Peruvian authorities said the blaze was 90 percent contained by dozens of firefighters and police. They claim that Machu Picchu itself was not affected.
“Fortunately, it was manageable [the fire]Machu Picchu District Mayor Darwin Baca Leon told Peruvian radio station RPP. The mayor acknowledged that firefighters were still working to control some smaller outbreaks in the mountains that remained “active.”
The fire comes as the South American tourist destination tries to recover from the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Peruvians.
Peru’s tourism industry and Machu Picchu were brought to a halt in early 2020 as Covid tore the world apart, claiming millions of lives and wreaking havoc on economies.
On Thursday, Peru’s culture ministry insisted that tourism activities at Machu Picchu had not been affected by this week’s fire, but there were no reports of deaths.
Machu Picchu became world famous about a century ago after an American academic and researcher announced the “discovery” of a “lost city in the clouds”.
Writing in the New York Times, Hiram Bingham said that the stunning stonework and profusion of stone dwellings led him to suspect that the Andean city “may prove to be the largest and most important ruin discovered in South America since the days of the Spanish conquest’.
Bingham proposed the name “Machu Picchu” for the area, which he rediscovered and brought to the world’s attention. However, a recent academic paper has questioned whether this is actually correct.
Its authors said the UNESCO World Heritage site was actually known as Wayna Picchu, after a mountain peak above the ruins, or simply Picchu.
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