The Colima Volcano erupted again on Saturday, sending ash and cinders high into the Mexican sky.
The intensity of the ash cloud forced the closure of Colima’s airport and at least half a dozen small communities around the base of the mountain had to be evacuated.
“The communities in this 12km radius are very small and don’t exceed 800 inhabitants. They have all been evacuated,” civil protection co-ordinator Luis Felipe Puente the BBC.
The mountain’s first eruption took place on Thursday and escalated through the weekend. Local officials said the activity of the volcano was “atypical” and something not seen since the last strong eruption in 1913.
The volcano is known by the locals as the “Volcano of Fire”.
The Mexico Interior Department reported that 2 inches of ash had fallen on the village of Yerbabuena. Rain in the region is making conditions worse as the ash thickens from the moisture.
More than a thousand people were forced to flee in Wenatchee, Washington due to a raging wildfire that burned as many as two dozen buildings.
Officials said as of Monday morning the fire was partially contained but is still threatening homes in the path of the flames.
The fire is being called the Sleepy Hollow Fire and is located about 140 miles east of Seattle. It started Sunday afternoon and quickly consumed over 3,000 acres. Dry conditions and gusting winds were key factors in the accelerated spread of the fire according to local officials.
Among the destruction was a cardboard recycling plant. One firefighter’s car was partially destroyed when embers flew through the window and ignited the car’s back seat.
The eastern part of Washington has been experiencing temperatures over 100 degrees and the governor issued an emergency proclamation that allows state resources to be used to battle wildfires.
The fire was stopped by firefighters before it could reach multiple residential subdivisions, saving hundreds of homes.
However, that wasn’t the only problem in the Wenatchee area; an ammonia leak at a nearby fruit packaging plant had officials playing “shelter in place” warnings on social media. The cloud dissipated without causing further damage to residents.
Indonesian officials are evacuating hundreds more residents near Mount Sinabung as the volcano continues to increase a lava flow and eruptions.
Gede Suantika, government volcanologist, said that 28 hot ash avalanches took place in one day on Mount Sinabung. The lava dome on the mountain continues to build in size creating the possibility of a serious eruption.
The number of people evacuated in recent weeks has topped 3,000.
The circle of exclusion around the mountain is now 3 miles. Residents forced to flee have been complaining about the forced evacuation, saying they are farmers and they have no way to make a living if they are forced off their land.
However, a Saturday blast of hot ash spread two miles from the volcano, leading the government to expand the forced evacuation and removal of angry residents.
The mountain has caused scientists to keep it on the highest alert level since June 2 with a lava dome estimated at 106 million cubic feet.
The mountain came alive after 400 years of dormancy in 2010. Last year, an eruption left 17 people dead. The mountain is on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Two villages have been destroyed in Cape Verde and a forest reserve is threatened by the massive eruption of the Pico do Fogo volcano.
Fire brigade chief Arlindo Lima told Sky News that 1,500 people fled their homes before the lava destroyed the villages of Portela and Bengeira on Fogo Island.
“The lava front, (which was) more than 500 metres north of outlying houses in Bangeira a week ago, has swept over much of the village and continues to move forward,” Chief Lima told Sky News.
The country’s interior minister is calling on residents to not panic despite the fact “the eruption was very fast.”
“There’s a whole local economy and a whole way of life that the volcano has claimed in the space of just 22 days,” Arlinda Neves, a local journalist, said after the villages of Portela and Bangeira were destroyed. “It’s more than a century and a half of history that has literally been wiped out.”
Officials are warning those in the village of Fonsaco to be prepared to leave as the lava flow moves toward their homes.
As the lava flow from Kilauea continues to progress into the town of Pahoa, city officials are being informed by scientists that it’s likely the town will be cut in half if the lava continues its current path.
The flow is expected to reach Pahoa Village Road late Wednesday, cutting off one of the two major roadways where residents can escape the lava flow. The second road, Highway 130, is only half a mile from the Pahoa Village Road.
Officials say they are resisting mandatory evacuation orders despite the lava igniting a tire fire at a dump in the flow path. The toxic smoke from the fire is reportedly blowing away from residential areas.
Matt Patrick of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says the flow is moving erratically and is causing problems for forecasters trying to predict path and speed.
The lava’s pace had picked up when it reached a gully. The flow could then move like rain in a gutter.
The state of Hawaii has announced they will create a staging area where residents of the community of Pahoa will be able to watch the lava from the Kilauea volcano consume their homes.
Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira told the Associated Press it’s a way to help the residents find “a means of closure” in the situation.
The lava was reported to be 70 yards from the first home in its path on Tuesday morning.
A spokeswoman for the Hawaii Volcano Observatory said that the lava’s pace is being controlled by the topography of the area and in some places has slowed significantly as the lava moves up small inclines.
Oliveira says that many of the residents in the path of the volcano have already made arrangements to live somewhere else or have just left their homes in anticipation of the lava. He said he doesn’t believe he will need to issue a mandatory evacuation order.
The last time lava threatened homes was in 2011, when one home was destroyed before the lava changed course.
The lava flow from a Hawaiian volcano is threatening to overtake a town.
The flow from the Kilauea volcano, which has been continuously erupting since 1983, has crossed the border of the community of Pahoa. The flow covered the town’s cemetery over the weekend and is steadily progressing toward homes.
“The flow continues to remain active and has advanced approximately 275 yards since yesterday morning,” government officials reported Monday morning.
The Associated Press says the lava flow has been slowly moving toward the town for the last two years. The governor has asked for a Presidential disaster declaration to make federal money available for evacuation and relocation of the town’s residents.
“The effect of the destruction and/or isolation of the businesses and other institutions in Pahoa will be devastating to the entire Puna District,” the governor wrote in his request, according to West Hawaii Today.
The Navajo Reservation in New Mexico is facing down a huge wildfire that is raging into its fourth day.
The blaze, called the Assayii Lake Fire, has burned more than 11,000 acres of land and is still uncontained despite hundreds of firefighters on the scene and multiple passes by aircraft dumping water and fire retardant on the area.
The fire is believed to have been caused by humans and has been driven by winds of at least 42 miles per hour according to Navajo Nation officials. Sheep herding residents of the Chuska mountains were forced to evacuate from the area because of the uncontrolled blaze.
Navajo Nation officials told Reuters that the fire has burned out some of the reservation’s premiere grazing lands. The authorities are trying to “protest culturally significant lands and historic sites” that are in the path of the fire.
Several communities have been ordered to evacuate and at least 50 residences have been destroyed or damaged by the flames. More firefighters are being called to the site to try and control the flames.
A popular scenic canyon in Arizona is burning bright as a wind-driven wildfire is threatening to destroy hundreds of homes.
The “Slide Fire” in Oak Creek Canyon 120 miles north of Phoenix is being fought by over 500 firefighters trying to stop the flames from consuming more than the 4,500 acres already burning.
Over 3,000 residents of the area are on alert for immediate evacuation should the winds continue to drive the flames into their housing developments. Officials say that residents along a two-mile stretch along the canyon have already been forced to leave and it’s likely they will lose their homes to the flames.
“The fire has really been active and very aggressive,” Coconino Forest Service spokesman Brady Smith told Reuters. “We really have a big job on our hands.”
Firefighters say the fire is zero percent contained and at one point covered the entire rim of the canyon. Sustained winds of 35 miles per hour are driving the flames.
The fire is believed to have been human-caused but they do not know if the fire was arson. The Red Cross has set up shelters in anticipation of major evacuations.
El Salvadoran officials have evacuated thousands of residents from the area around the Chaparrastique volcano out of fears of a major eruption.
The volcano, which has erupted twice in the last six months, reportedly had a major explosion on Monday and reddish ash was seen spewing in the caldera.
The country’s Civil Protection Department has issued an alert for the city of San Miguel, 30 miles from the volcano and one of the largest cities in El Salvador. Over 1,400 residents have been evacuated from the area and more are expected to be forced to leave.
Previous evacuations ahead of anticipated eruptions have kept the volcano from taking any lives.
Hernan Rosa Chavez, El Salvador’s Environment Minister, said that the volcano is experiencing higher levels of activity than during either of the previous two eruptions.
The last time the volcano suffered a major eruption was 1976 and officials fear the increased activity means a major eruption is imminent.
