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Mexico's 'Fire Volcano' spews hot lava

Mexico's 'Fire Volcano, near the western city of Colima, spewed hot lava and rock Thursday, the latest in a series of spectacular eruptions in the past few weeks.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Western Mexico's Volcano of Fire spewed hot lava and rock Thursday, the latest in a series of spectacular but non-threatening eruptions in the past few weeks.

The volcano near the city of Colima, 430 miles northwest of Mexico City, unleashed a column of smoke and ash along with a flow of burning orange lava on Sept. 29.  Since then, scientists have reported nearly daily eruptions from its 12,533-foot peak.

The eruptions have been caused by seismic activity, and scientists can't predict how long they will last.

The activity has sometimes left a light coating of ask on nearby communities, but officials say there is no immediate danger.

A major eruption in 1999 sent glowing rock down the volcano's slopes and fired a plume of ash more than five miles high.

In 1913, an explosion created a crater 1,650 feet deep, blasted fast-moving flows of hot ash down the volcano's slopes and rained ash on Guadalajara, 75 miles to the north.

Vulcanologists consider the Colima volcano to be one of the most active and potentially the most destructive of the volcanoes in central Mexico.

It has erupted violently dozens of times since its first recorded eruption in 1560.