Part of the mountain range of the Sierra Madre, the volcano sits about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) west of Antigua, one of Guatemala's most famous cities and a tourist destination.

Between Fuego and Acatenango is La Meseta, a scarp marking the remains of an older volcano that collapsed around 8,500 years ago.

On 7 January we left that village about 7 o'clock in the morning with seven Mozos, carrying food, clothing, and my camp-bed, and rode for an hour towards the mountains, when we dismounted and sent back our mules.

The first two hours' climb was not so very steep, but it was tiring work walking over the loose mould and dry leaves under the thick forest.

[...] We turned out of our shelter at about half-past four in the morning, and felt all the better after drinking hot coffee; we then sat for an hour watching a most beautiful dawn and sunrise.

A little over 12,000 feet we left the scraggy pine-trees and arrived at the northern end of a cinder ridge, called the Meseta, which is at the summit of the slope we had been climbing.

[32] The San Miguel earthquake damaged the city considerably, to the point that some rooms and walls of the Royal Palace were destroyed.

Fuego generated large pyroclastic flows that gradually filled its drainage ravines (known locally as "barrancas").

The greatest impacts were on the east side of Fuego, where pyroclastic flows filled and eventually overcame the capacity of the Las Lajas ravine to descend on the nearby communities of San Miguel Los Lotes and El Rodeo in Escuintla and the private golf resort of La Reunión in Sacatepéquez.

The flows that descended on Los Lotes buried the town in pyroclastic material and killed many of the residents, who had received limited warnings to evacuate.

[36][37] Ash fall extended as far as the capital, Guatemala City forcing the closure of La Aurora International Airport.