SAN MARCOS, Mexico (AP) - Mexico's Volcano of Fire has been hurling hot lava into the air and dusting surrounding towns with ash, forcing evacuations and raising concerns of a much larger explosion. The eruptions are the strongest recorded since scientific monitoring began 20 years ago, and even long-skeptical residents acknowledged Wednesday a newfound fear of the peak that straddles the line between Colima and Jalisco states, 690 kilometers (430 miles) west of Mexico City. The volcano has had six spectacular eruptions in the past three weeks. The largest, late Monday, shot glowing lava 5 kilometers (3 miles) above the crater of the 3,820-meter (12,533-foot) volcano and showered ash over the nearby city of Colima. Authorities handed out surgical masks to protect against breathing the fine grit, but so far the volcano has caused no major injuries or damage.
"The ground shook, and there was this roar, and people came running out of their houses," Maria de Jesus Chavez, a 17-year-old high school student, said as she sat outside her home in San Marcos and watched the volcano with her family.
Seismologist Tonatiuh Dominguez said the increasing frequency of the eruptions and their intensity signaled the volcano was returning to an explosive stage like one that started in 1903 and climaxed when a massive explosion in January 1913 left a 500-meter (1,650-feet) deep crater at the volcano's peak and scattered ash on cities 400 kilometers (240 miles) away. "I think that we're seeing something similar to what occurred a century ago," said Dominguez, of the University of Colima. "We are comparing it to 1903, when there were more than 200 explosions in one year... "It's possible that we will see another one like 1913 in the coming decade."