One of Western Hemisphere's Most Active Volcanoes Wakes

Lava, ash, and toxic gas pouring out of Guatemala's Fuego volcano have forced evacuations from at least two villages on its slopes, officials said Tuesday. The country's disaster agency, Conred, raised a nationwide orange alert—its second-highest level—as dense columns of ash and fast-moving pyroclastic currents rolled down the volcano's southeastern side, reports the BBC. "The eruption increases its explosiveness level. A fountain of lava of between 650 and 1,000 feet has developed over the crater," says the Guatemalan Seismology, Vulcanology, Weather, and Water Institute, per the AP.

Authorities urged residents to stay indoors with windows and doors shut, suspended classes at nearby schools, and warned both locals and tourists to stay away from the area, especially the slopes popular with hikers. Fuego sits about 10 miles west of the tourist city of Antigua and is among the most active volcanoes in the Western Hemisphere; its 2018 eruption killed more than 200 people, many overtaken by pyroclastic flows.