The world’s attention has been on Hawaii, but an explosive eruption today in Guatemala has now become the deadliest of the year. At least 6 people died and 20 were injured in an eruption that generated multiple pyroclastic flows and heavy ash fall across the area near Fuego, the Central American country’s most active volcano. Three hundred people living near Fuego have been evacuated as a precaution for more pyroclastic flows. Emergency responders are trying to reach people injured by the eruption.

What is a pyroclastic flow? It is a jumble of ash, chunks of volcanic rock, hot gases and air that move down the sides of a volcano at hundreds of kilometers per hour. They are also hot at over 500ºC, so they pretty much wipe out everything — building, trees, bridges, people — in their path. There is some startling video taken of one of today’s pyroclastic flows as they reached a bridge – however, before you watch this, remember if you ever find yourself in a situation like this, DO NOT stick around to film it. Run/drive/ride away as fast as possible.

@RTultimahora#Guatemala#volcandefuegopic.twitter.com/7h6a0KX8Iy

— Entropía (@Sunlight_lovee) June 3, 2018

Here is another showing a large flow (being filmed by someone speeding away):

Así se vio la erupción del volcán de Fuego en Guatemala; hasta el momento hay al menos 6 muertos y varios heridos https://t.co/wsURFaFmeK pic.twitter.com/Ts1tknugA1

— Periódico Zócalo (@PeriodicoZocalo) June 4, 2018

The pyroclastic flows reached golf courses near Fuego, burying parts of the resort in hot ash and debris:

Hoyos 10 & 18. La Reunión, Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala. @drbeltranena@Ccastell2015@nicholasvirzi@luisficarpediem@robertoantoniow@ConredGuatemala@insivumehgt@lfvalenzuela@ezapeta@Md30@MYDDA@alfredkalt@SGGuatemala@frattigiovannipic.twitter.com/fliL7JgDLH

— GeoGis (@jlescriba) June 3, 2018

Rain that is falling today is also remobilizing this new volcanic tephra to form lahars (volcanic mudflows) in some of the rivers leading away from Fuego:

#VolcánDeFuego Por la acumulación de material en las barrancas del volcán de Fuego y las lluvias en el sector, se reporta el descenso de un lahar que genera incremento en el caudal del río Pantaleón. pic.twitter.com/VvpZEJP8BB

— CONRED (@ConredGuatemala) June 3, 2018

Considering this video, it is a little ironic that today was the 27th anniversary of the death’s of Maurice and Katia Krafft and Harry Glicken at Unzen in Japan. The Kraffts were famed volcanic documentarians while Harry Glicken was a USGS volcanologist. A pyroclastic flow like what happened today at Fuego killed them as they tried to view it from a restricted zone.

Ash from the eruption fell as far as Guatemala City, 70 kilometers away. You can see how dangerous it might be to be driving when ash is falling 25 kilometers from the volcano in this Twitter pic:

A unos 25 km volcán de fuego pic.twitter.com/kqtbAx0i81

— juamfra (@_juamfra) June 3, 2018

The plume from the eruption was seen clearly on a GOES satellite image, with the dark grey ash cloud punching through the white cloud deck. The VAAC advisory for the eruption says that the ash may have reached as high as 9-15 kilometers (30,000-50,000 feet), although the INSIVMEH report says the explosions reached 6 km (~20,000 feet).

Compartimos una imágen satelital del volcán de Fuego, en Guatemala. La nubosidad dificulta un poco la visibilidad, pero se destaca el color gris del humo y la ceniza. pic.twitter.com/d9ajvnpIrs

— MARN El Salvador (@MARN_SV) June 4, 2018

Let’s also clear up a few things that may come up: (1) there is no connection between this eruption and the one going on at Kīlauea right now; (2) it is not odd to have multiple volcanoes erupting at the same time across the globe; (3) the eruptions at Fuego and Kīlauea are very different in their style — this means that people in Hawaii should not expect anything like this at Kīlauea.

Eruptions at Fuego can produce a wide range of products: lava flows, ash fall, mudflows, pyroclastic flows. This is typical for a volcano like Fuego, a stratovolcano in a subduction zone, where one plate is sliding under another. This is unlike Kīlauea, a shield volcano at a hotspot, where lava flows are the dominant product.

Hopefully, the death toll is stay low for this eruption of Fuego, but it is a reminder of how dangerous volcanic eruptions can be, especially when they erupt explosively.