Officials Will Allow Hawaii Homeowners to Watch Their Houses Burn Down as Kilauea Volcano Lava Continues to Be a Threat
A stream of lava set a home on fire Monday in a rural Hawaii town.
The lava had been flowing for months while the town watched the steady molten rock and prepared for an emergency evacuation.
According to The Associated Press, Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira said the lava hit the house just before noon. The family already left the home since the lava was predicted to hit when it was a few yards away.
The home located in the largest town in Hawaii's isolated and mostly agricultural Puna district took about 45 minutes to entirely burn down. Lava burned down a small storage shed on the property before creeping to the 1,100-square-foot home, Fox News reports.
The homeowners' relative drove from another part of the island about two hours away and used an iPhone to take video of the house burning. The home is estimated to have been about $200,000 in value.
Oliveira said officials would make arrangements for homeowners to watch their homes burn down for closure and to record it for insurance companies.
Imelda Raras lives on the other end of where the lava burned its first house.
"I'm scared right now," she told the AP. "What will happen next? We will be waiting."
The steady leading edge of the flow stalled while different spurts have been breaking away at several spots since Oct. 30.
The flow was heading toward the Pahoa Village Road. and if spurts were to keep going in that direction, it would hit a very busy road that that goes straight throw downtown.
Crews have been working on alternate routes to be used when lava hits Highway 130.
The lava emerged from Kilauea volcano back in June and has destroyed a cemetery and mostly vegetation in its path.
Firefighters will let a structure burn but will fight any wildfires that are a result of the lava if they are likely to spread or to threaten other structures.
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