Between September 6 and 11, two ancient sites of Inca ruins from Machu Picchu were threatened by a huge forest fire, which was eventually put off.
 

More than eight hundred hectares of forest in the valley situated between Cuzco city and the ancient Machu Picchu fortress burned, causing great damage to the pair of archaeological sites. A team comprised of 600 firefighters gathered up in an attempt to reduce the proportions of the disaster. At one time, there were even 400 of them simultaneously fighting the flames, as they were constantly being revived by the winds blowing high in the Andes.
 

The deputy director of the National Cultural Institute (INC) in Cuzco, Jorge Prado, told the Andina news agency: "Last night [September 22], they practically managed to control the flames and currently there are some small points left, where the work will be focused in order to complete our task satisfactorily." At last, the torrential rains of September 11 proved to be of great help for the firemen dispatched by INC and the Peruvian National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA), aiding them in subduing the 5 day-long fire.

The region houses dozens of sites, but only the ones called Wayna Q'ente and Torontoy were hit by the flames. Farmers from the neighboring areas often willingly set the weeds on the banks of the close Urubamba river on fire, aiming to clear up the farmland. But the exact source that led to the catastrophe has not yet been discovered. Some railway line that heads from Cuzco to Machu Picchu was also threatened by the flames.
 

Luckily, the fires that affected the two ancient sites in question did not harm any visiting tourists. A day after they were put out, on September 12, the World Heritage site, which includes the Wayna Q'ente and Torontoy ancient sites, was re-opened to public visitation.