Guatemala has issued a nationwide orange alert, its second-highest emergency level, after the Fuego volcano erupted on Monday with intensifying force, spewing lava, gas, and ash plumes reaching roughly six kilometres into the air. The National Disaster Management Agency, Conred, began evacuating at least two villages on the volcano's slopes as a precaution, displacing around 250 residents. Authorities suspended classes at nearby schools and closed a major road linking the southern region to the colonial city of Antigua.
The Institute of Volcanology warned Fuego was moving towards a more explosive phase, with pyroclastic flows continuing down its south-eastern slope into early Tuesday. A lava fountain between 200 and 300 metres high developed above the crater. Located 35 kilometres south-west of Guatemala City and 16 kilometres from Antigua, Fuego is widely considered Central America's most active volcano.
The eruption recalls Fuego's deadliest recent event in 2018, when rivers of volcanic material killed at least 215 people and destroyed a village, affecting an estimated 1.7 million residents.