The June 27 lava flow sparked a brush fire as it continued its progress toward Pahoa on Monday. ADVERTISING The June 27 lava flow sparked a brush fire as it continued its progress toward Pahoa on Monday. Meanwhile, Civil Defense
The June 27 lava flow sparked a brush fire as it continued its progress toward Pahoa on Monday.
Meanwhile, Civil Defense officials, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, have restricted the airspace above the leading edge of the flow in response to increased traffic of sightseers and media personnel.
Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira told reporters Monday afternoon there did not appear to be any threat to surrounding neighborhoods as a result of the runaway brush fire.
“It burned about 150 acres, it’s slowly moving in the north direction towards Ainaloa,” he said. “But, we’ve already cut firebreaks in that area, and the fire department is on the scene with offroad vehicles watching the firebreak, just making sure we don’t have any embers jump across. There’s no threat to any communities.”
Located on the west, or mauka, side of Highway 130 between Pahoa and Ainaloa, the fire has been boxed in by firebreaks and is not anticipated to threaten any homes or businesses. However, the smoke generated by the fire could increase downwind or to the north of the fire in the areas of Ainaloa and Hawaiian Paradise Park, according to a county press release.
Steve Brantley, acting scientist-in-charge at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told reporters Monday the tip of the lava flow has narrowed to about 109 yards across as it moves down the mountain, averaging 131 yards a day since Friday.
“It is consistently moving downslope along the path of steepest descent,” he said. “There’ve been a few breakouts occurring out of the crack system where the lava first emerged, we’re seeing very persistent breakouts over the past several weeks.”
Brantley said recent measurements of the rate of lava flow through the lava tube system are not available “because winds were blowing fumes right over the lava tube where we take the measurements, and it was not a good place for our geologists to be.”
Oliveira said the county and state Civil Defense worked with the FAA last week to impose restrictions over the airspace above the flow in response to increased traffic that could pose a threat to people on the ground.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of congestion, a lot of activity, over the lava flow,” he said. “Multiple times we see fixed wing aircraft and helicopters in the same area.”
The restrictions, which went into effect Saturday and will tentatively last until Dec. 1, cover a radius of 2 nautical miles around the front of the flow, and restrict flight below 4,000 feet. Before the restrictions went into effect, aircraft could fly as low as 1,000 feet above populated areas.
Oliveira said Civil Defense officials “do understand and appreciate the historic nature” of the lava flow, but the restrictions were necessary to “get control back, and going forward allow us to work collaboratively.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
