Five volcano stories from this week sound more explosive than they really are, and that is exactly why the details matter. Indonesia's famous blue fire is burning sulfur, not lava. Japan raised Komagatake's alert after shallow unrest that could produce a steam blast without fresh magma. Alaska's Gareloi erupted for less than a minute after eight quiet years, while another Aleutian volcano has been building a lava dome for more than five years.

This documentary breaks down what the labels hide: phreatic explosions, lava domes, volcanic gases, mudpots, exclusion zones, aviation hazards, and the underground heat signals that matter more than dramatic headlines.

1. Papandayan's blue fire is burning elemental sulfur, not blue lava.
2. Molten sulfur reaches roughly 115 degrees Celsius and burns with a blue flame.
3. A new Papandayan mudpot opened southwest of a summit crater.
4. Officials keep people at least 500 meters from the blue-fire crater area because of volcanic gases.
5. Japan raised Komagatake's alert from level one to level two after deformation and small earthquakes.
6. Komagatake's main concern is a steam-driven blast that may occur without fresh magma.
7. An Aleutian volcano has built a basaltic-andesite lava dome continuously for five and a third years.
8. Forty-seven volcanoes are listed as erupting worldwide, a snapshot rather than a danger scoreboard.
9. Gareloi produced a less-than-one-minute phreatic blast after eight quiet years.
10. Gareloi's new crater formed inside an older gas-and-steam-venting summit crater.
11. Volcanic ash over the Aleutian air routes can threaten aircraft even when nobody lives on the island.
12. The central signal across all five stories is heat moving underground and how the ground responds.