BJ Deming

Fuego, Guatemala, 2025 (Dec. 15, 2025, 2023 UTC)

  • Global Volcanism Program (GVP) page

  • INSIVUMEH daily volcano bulletins (Spanish)

  • Fuego’s baseline activity can be spectacular, especially at night, so here is a live cam:

Updates

Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire — Volcán de Fuego — near Guatemala City and the famous old town of Antigua had a burst of activity this past week.

It does that every now and then, but most of the time Fuego just fumes and pops off in low-level explosions.

We last took an in-depth look at Fuego and its neighbor, tall Acatenango, in February 2018.

That was just a little over three months before Fuego had a violent burst of activity that produced unusually large and powerful pyroclastic flows (for this volcano).

The fiery death clouds invaded neighborhoods with tragic results.

Seven years plus one day later — last Wednesday — Fuego fired up again, starting with a lava flow at around 2 p.m., local time:

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It ramped up overnight into lava fountains from the summit. Weather obscured views —

It was still an awe-inspiring sight.

— but this was the scene at dawn the next day:

By the 5th, Fuego’s roaring fountains had to be seen to be believed:

As the column pulsated it generated pyroclastic flows that traveled down ravines all around the summit.

Hundreds of people were evacuated as the eruption got going, but fortunately, this batch of new magma was not as explosive as the one in 2018 and “only” generated “typical” Fuego-sized pyroclastic flows.

That left a lot of ash on steep slopes, though, and the weather there has been very rainy. Everyone knew that this would generate lahars, and some unthinking folks went out in the middle of the night to see them:

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Those people were extremely lucky. Something like this might have been barreling down out the darkness at them:

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Please don’t ever take chances with your life around an active volcano!

Overall, Guatemalans remained calm and went into the usual emergency mode —

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— while Fuego calmed down after its violent tantrum and is now back to fuming and low-intensity popping off.

There were no reported casualties. Maybe, hopefully, some seven-year-old horrific memories have now been healed a bit and people can move on to whatever awaits them next around this very active volcano.

Updates:

December 15, 2025, 12:23 p.m., Pacific: Fuego continues being Fuego, with no rampages lately. I am updating these reports, and here is the most recent GVP update:

Most Recent Weekly Report: 26 November-2 December 2025

The Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia e Hidrología (INSIVUMEH) reported that eruptive activity at Fuego continued during 25 November-2 December. Daily Strombolian explosions recorded by the seismic network, at rates of 4-15 per hour, generated gas-and-ash plumes that rose as high as 1.1 km above the summit and drifted as far as 40 km NW, W, and SW. Occasional rumbling sounds, shock waves, and/or sounds associated with gas emissions were reported. Explosions occasionally ejected incandescent material as high as 200 m above the summit and showered the upper flanks with incandescent material. Daily incandescent avalanches of material descended the flanks, including the Las Lajas (SE), Seca (W), Taniluya (SSW), Trinidad (SSW), Santa Teresa (W), El Jute (ESE), Honda, and Ceniza (SSW) drainages, occasionally reaching vegetated areas. Ashfall was reported in areas downwind on most days including Panimache (8 km SW), Sangre de Cristo, Finca Palo Verde, El Porvenir (10 km S), Morelia (10 km SW), Santa Sofia (12 km SW), Los Yucales (12 km SW), and Yepocapa. The Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (CONRED) reported that a tourist climbing near the crater on 30 November was injured and had to be carried down by companions and rescuers.

Featured image: Darren Ridgway, CC BY-SA 2.0

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