250 evacuated as Volcano of Fire erupts in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — About 250 residents were evacuated Thursday from the slopes of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire as red-hot rock and ash flowed down the slopes toward an area devastated by a deadly 2018 eruption.

Firefighters said residents of the hamlet of Panimache were taken to shelters.

Guatemala’s disaster agency said the volcano had been emitting ash clouds that could affect as many as 100,000 people in communities around the peak.

The 12,300-foot (3,763-meter) high Volcano of Fire is one of the most active in Central America. The 2018 eruption killed 194 people and left another 234 missing.

The biggest danger from the volcano are lahars, a mixture of ash, rock, mud and debris, that can bury entire towns.

The disaster agency said that such lahars were flowing down four of the seven gullies on the volcano’s flanks.