Flamazo en refinería de Dos Bocas preocupa a Tabasco

What does “flamazo” mean in Spanish?

A flamazo is a sudden flare-up: gas or vapor ignites all at once into a bright, momentary sheet of flame, then drops back. The word is built from flama (flame) and the productive suffix -azo, which adds the sense of a sudden blow or burst — the same machinery behind codazo (elbow jab), frenazo (slamming the brakes), and golazo (a stunner of a goal). Crucially, a flamazo is not an explosión: it flashes, it does not detonate.

The report carefully separates a flamazo from an explosion or fuga (leak), describing controlled venting of gases during tank maintenance at the Dos Bocas refinery. Learning -azo unlocks a whole family of vivid Spanish nouns for sudden hits and bursts — a high-leverage pattern for intermediate learners.