Guatemalan authorities raised the country’s emergency warning to its second-highest level after Central America’s most active volcano, Fuego, erupted, triggering evacuations and prompting the closure of a key highway.
The country’s disaster coordination agency, Conred, declared a nationwide orange alert after the volcano witnessed a sharp increase in activity, sending dangerous pyroclastic density currents towards the Seca and Ceniza ravines on its southwestern flank.
“An orange (danger) alert has been declared nationwide due to the eruption of the Fuego volcano,” Conred said in a post on X.
Emergency officials immediately evacuated residents from two villages near the volcano, located about 35 kilometres from the capital, Guatemala City.
As a precaution, authorities also shut National Highway RN-14, which provides access to Alotenango, after volcanic material began descending through the Las Lajas ravine.
Conred urged residents in vulnerable areas to avoid ravines and other designated danger zones, advising families to prepare emergency “72-hour backpacks,” review their Family Response Plans and self-evacuate if conditions worsen.
According to DW, Fuego’s recurring eruptions have forced repeated mass evacuations in recent years. Guatemala, located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is prone to frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
In response to the latest eruption, the government suspended classes in affected areas and closed a major roadway linking southern Guatemala with the historic city of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, DW reported.
Fuego last triggered major evacuations in 2023, when around 1,200 residents were displaced. Its deadliest recent eruption occurred in 2018, when fast-moving volcanic flows engulfed a nearby village, killing 215 people and leaving a similar number missing.
