San Juan Alotenango (Guatemala) (AFP) - Hundreds of people living on the slopes of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano evacuated their homes Tuesday after a huge eruption spewed lava and plumes of ash.

Emergency services issued a red alert, the most severe warning, after Central America’s most active volcano erupted Monday morning, with conditions intensifying by nightfall.

Rivers of lava streamed down the 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) volcano located less than 100 kilometers from Guatemala City, while ash rose some six kilometers into the red sky.

“Since early morning it was active. That night, the alarm was raised that we needed to evacuate,” local resident Alejandro Garcia, 68, told AFP.

Villagers left of their own accord out of fear, Garcia said, describing terrifying scenes of lava oozing down the mountainside.

Firefighters said they transported at least 500 residents of the El Porvenir and Las Lajitas villages to the eastward San Juan Alotenango municipality.

Evacuees are staying in a community hall where makeshift beds have been set up, while the number of people taken to other nearby towns remains unknown.

“If there were any chance of moving to a different house, it would be better, because you’re always afraid since the volcano doesn’t give any warning,” Lidia Ortiz, 40, told AFP at the shelter.

Escuintla to the south was sheltering dozens more families, including children, local authorities reported.

- ‘Too much’ -

The red alert applies to the Sacatepequez, Chimaltenango and Escuintla areas, with a population of 1.6 million.

Emergency services director Claudine Ogaldes called on at-risk families to come to shelters voluntarily.

“In those spaces, you will find care, support and safe conditions while the volcanic activity continues,” she wrote on X.

The country’s Institute of Volcanology warned of hot volcanic debris flows down Fuego’s slopes, with communities on the western and southern flanks at the greatest risk.

Fuego had been erupting for 23 hours straight by Tuesday morning, it said, although the intensity was easing slightly.

“We’ve already gotten used to having the volcano constantly active, but this time it was really too much,” 50-year-old resident Sonia Vasquez told AFP.

There has so far been no impact on the capital’s international airport.

The education ministry suspended face-to-face classes in communities within two municipalities near the volcano.

Police closed and later reopened a nearby road leading to the colonial city of Antigua, a tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage site.

Guatemala lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

There have been several such mass evacuations in recent years because Fuego erupted.

Authorities evacuated more than 500 people last year after Fuego spurted out gas and ash, with residents moved to shelters from communities near the crater.

Another eruption in 2023 pushed around 1,200 people to evacuate.

In 2018, 215 people were killed and a similar number left missing when rivers of lava poured down Fuego’s slopes and destroyed a village.