On September 19, fire started spreading across La Palma, a Spanish island off the coast of Africa. Ash and lava erupted, or burst, from a volcano on the island.
Lava, which is hot melted rock, shot at least 5,000 feet into the air. That’s as high as 16 Statues of Liberty stacked on each other.
The lava continues to flow. It has destroyed thousands of buildings and forced more than 7,000 people from their homes. Many want to know when the volcano will stop erupting.
“It looks like it’s going to be active for a long time,” says David Calvo, who studies volcanoes.
He predicts a volcano’s activity by testing for earthquakes and a gas called sulfur dioxide. As of October, those tests showed the eruption wouldn’t be ending anytime soon.