The flow front remained perched about 480 feet above Pahoa Village Road on Saturday after showing little movement since Friday.
The flow front remained perched about 480 feet above Pahoa Village Road on Saturday after showing little movement since Friday.
“Throughout the night we saw very little activity,” said Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira during a Saturday morning media briefing.
“The advacement of the front, basically we couldn’t see anything. Maybe just inches within an hour.”
A number of smaller breakouts along the margins or sides of the flow continued further upslope from the front, but little appeared to be cause for worry at this point, he said.
U.S. Geological Survey geologist Mike Poland added that Hawaiian Volcano Observatory workers completed mapping the area around the flow front at about 11 a.m. Saturday.
They noted that a lobe of lava in the forest above the Pahoa cemetery remained active and was moving about 5.5 yards an hour.
“The tip of that flow had merged with the body of the previous flow that came through that area. The active edge was about 280 yards behind the stalled tip,” he said.
Oliveira reminded the public to be wary of people pretending to be government employees after one woman living in the restricted area near the flow front said a man with a clipboard approached her wanting to assess the damages on her property.
“There are no government officials going door to door out there to do damage assessments,” he said. “If there are they will be in government vehicles and have official government identification. If even someone is suspicious … they may call the police if the person’s behavior is questionable.”
Some neighbors expressed concern late Friday evening that people they had seen in the area in full camouflage might be trespassing, but Oliveira said they were simply wearing camouflage as a Halloween costume.
Meanwhile, Civil Defense planned to institute new flight restrictions near the flow after observing several commercial helicopter flights coming very low to the ground.
“We will be setting a minimum ceiling, and you should see those changes begin today,” he said. “Some have been coming very low, bringing it down to right off the deck. And we have personnel right down and around the flow. The prop wash (from the helicopters) can fan things and flare things up, presenting a danger.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.