250 neighbours, one WhatsApp group, and a wall of flags: the Andes valley that watches for fire together

Joaquin Randall runs his family's hotel in Peru's Cusco region, in the train-station town on the way to Machu Picchu. Lately he has a second job: fire lookout organiser. Farmers here have long burned fields to renew them, and in the dry season those burns can escape. So Randall and local businesses built an early-warning system out of what the valley already had — people. About 250 volunteers now watch for smoke across four districts: a photo goes to a community WhatsApp group, neighbours nearest the spot climb to check it, and where there is no phone signal, flags do the talking — orange for emergency, yellow or green for all-clear. Many of the watchers are elderly women. The system, funded by local businesses and backed by training from local authorities, has already cut the number of fires that run out of control — and it is bracing, together, for a strong El Niño season.

SDG 13 · Climate action — Mechanism: community action