Volcán de Fuego

This article is about the volcano in Guatemala. For the Mexican volcano, see Colima (volcano).

Volcán de Fuego
Volcán de Fuego, 1974 eruption.
Elevation	3,763 m (12,346 ft)
Location
Volcán de Fuego Guatemala
Range	Sierra Madre
Coordinates	14°28′58″N 90°52′58″W
Geology
Type	Stratovolcano (active)
Age of rock	200 Kyr
Volcanic arc/belt	Central America Volcanic Arc
Last eruption	2013 (ongoing)

Volcán de Fuego ("Volcano of Fire") is an active stratovolcano in Guatemala. It sits about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the colonial city of Antigua Guatemala, one of the Guatemala’s most famous tourist attractions. It has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest. "Fuego" is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level. Smoke issues from its top daily, but larger eruptions are rare. On August 9, 2007 Fuego erupted spewing lava, rock and ash. Guatemala's volcanology service reported that seven families were evacuated from their homes near the volcano. The volcano is joined with Acatenango and collectively the complex is known as La Horqueta. A new round of activity began on 19 May 2012, with lava flows and ejections of ash.^{[citation needed]}

On September 13, 2012, the volcano once again began spewing lava and ash, prompting officials to begin "a massive evacuation of thousands of people" in five communities. More specifically, the evacuees, roughly 33,000 people, left nearly 17 villages near the volcano. It spewed lava and pyroclastic flows about 2,000 feet (600 meters) down the slope of the volcano.

See also

• List of volcanoes in Guatemala

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  3D view

The Volcan de Fuego has been scaled many times. There is little relevant history of the early climbs that can be found on the internet. The Volcan de Fuego was climbed in November of 1955 by a group of climbers from Antigua, Guatemala. The climbers consisted of 25 men that started from the town of Alotenango and started to climb from what today is known as the Alotenango Route. in 1955 the conditions of the volcano are different than today in that it was very difficult to reach the crater. Of the 25 climbers only 4 decided to make the last mile accent to the crater top. Upon reaching the crater of the volcano only 3 made it inside the volcano crater. These four climbers were Alfonso Solorzano, Carlos Cheyen, Samuel Santos Verdugo and Raul Paniagua. Raul Panigaua did not enter the crater. The other three climbers went down into the crater to what in Spanish is called "desiladera del volcan", which is the where the lava flows from inside the crater. The total climb up took 19 hours.

Alfonso solorzano in volcan de fuego crater 1955

External links

• Map to Volcano

Further reading

• Global Volcanism Program