Man Dies Fighting Wildfire in Peru's Cusco Region

A 65-year-old man died around 3 a.m. local time Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, at Hospital Regional del Cusco in Peru after suffering severe burns while fighting a wildfire, becoming the seventh wildfire fatality recorded this year in the Cusco region, RPP Noticias reported.

He was identified as Aniceto Quispe Huanca, who suffered third-degree burns over 90% of his body while trying to control the fire in the Santo Domingo community, between the Acopia and Pomacanchi districts of Acomayo province. The hospital tried to fly him to Lima for treatment, with support from Peru's national health insurance program, SIS, and the Hospital Nacional Arzobispo Loayza, but his hemodynamic instability made the transfer too risky.

Diario Correo independently confirmed the death and said it raised Cusco's 2026 wildfire toll to seven; health officials and news reports had counted six victims as of Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. The hospital's executive director, Justo Germán Vizcarra Loayza, told Diario Correo that "his critical condition and hemodynamic instability prevented his air transfer to the city of Lima, after every possible medical treatment had been exhausted."

The sixth victim, a 75-year-old man, died Oct. 13, 2026, in Chumbivilcas province, Diario Correo said.

RPP cited Cusco's regional Emergency Operations Center, known as COER, which had recorded more than 330 fires and over 11,000 hectares of natural vegetation burned in the region as of Oct. 16, 2026.