Volcan de Fuego, 'Volcano of Fire'', 3,763 m.asl., is situated in Southeastern Guatemala,
and is one of 32 volcanoes in that country. The volcano is only 40 km Southwest of the capital
Guatemala City. The old spanish city of Antigua, with 12.000 inhabitants, lies at the foot of the
volcano.

Thursday, October 7th, 2004
During 30 September to 4 October several explosions occurred at Fuego, producing ash
plumes to a maximum height of 2 km above the volcano. On 30 September, lava avalanches
traveled towards Santa Teresa and Taniluya ravines. On 1 October, incandescent lava bombs
were hurled ~100 m above the volcano.

August 18th, 2004
Yesterday, within a 24 hour period, ten of seventeen explosions with rumbling are characterized
like weak, they expel incandescent lava from 75 to 100 ms over the central crater and sent
off avalanches consisting of lava in blocks towards Santa Teresa, and other but short ones
towards Trinidad and Taniluyá. Several of the explosions expelled ash that fell in the superior
part of the flank to the west and raised grisaceas columns until ~0.5 km of height.

July 28th, 2004
A series of strong explosions at Fuego on 21 July during 0630-0950 produced ash plumes
to a height of ~2 km above the volcano. Plumes traveled W, SW, and S, depositing ash in
several villages near the volcano. Small incandescent avalanches of volcanic material traveled
to the mouths of several ravines. Ash emissions and avalanches continued through 27 July.

February 23rd, 2004
INSIVUMEH reported that during 11-16 February several moderate-to-strong explosions
occurred at Fuego, producing gas-and-ash plumes to 1.6 km above the crater. Incandescent
avalanches traveled a maximum distance of 1 km down several ravines, including Trinidad
and Taniluyá to the SW, Seca to the W, Ceniza, and Lajas. During 11-12 February, ash fell
in the villages of Panimaché and Sangre de Cristo. According to the Washington VAAC,
on 14 February ash was visible on satellite imagery at a height of ~3.5 km above the volcano.

Friday, May 2nd 2003
On 28 April Fuego produced intermittent ash eruptions. One cloud was observed at ~ 7 km a.s.l., traveling SW at 19-29 km per hour. Although remote sensing was complicated by poor visibility due to high cirrus clouds and smoke from fires, some eruptive puffs remained recognizable when they blew over the coast.

Thursday, January 9th, 2003
Until 1100 of 8 January Fuego continued to undergo explosions, lava flows, and ash expulsions.
A steam-and-ash column rose to 5,700 m elevation, a height which at the time had East winds
of 30 km/hr that could cause ash fall to the West of the volcano. But, at the time, no such ash
had been seen there. It has been reported that two small pyroclastic flows of small to moderate
size occurred on the West flank, which entered the drainage of the Santa Teresa river valley.

Seismic signals continued to show evidence of the magma ascent, but with tendencies of
decreasing, the number of explosions per minute were 15-25. This suggested continued effusive
emissions for a number of hours. They recommended that the local civil defence (CONRED)
post a hazard status of Orange. For the civil aviation community, they recommended aircraft
avoid Fuego’s perimeter area, and to take into account the wind directions at altitude,
particularly to Fuego’s West side at altitudes of ~5-7 km (15,000–20,000 feet).

 
(SWVRC)

October 14th, 1974, taken from Finca Capetillo, 8 km ENE of the top. The vertical column reached the stratosphaere, and several blocks and lots of ash fell on the slopes of the volcano that day.
Photo: W.C. Buell.