Jack Thompson remembers well the last time a wayward lava flow threatened a community on Hawaii Island.
Two and a half years ago, his name was etched into history when his home became the last within Puna’s Royal Gardens subdivision to be overrun by Pele.
The sparsely populated neighborhood had been beset by lava off and on since the earliest phases of the Puu Oo-Kupaianaha eruption that began in 1983. For 30 years, homes burned and roads leading to the neighborhood were cut off by the flows.
In 2008, Thompson became the last man standing when his neighbor’s home was claimed by lava. But that claim to fame would last only a few short years.
On March 2, 2012, he evacuated his home, located at the end of Plumeria Street, with only an hour to spare before the building was set alight by a river of molten rock.
“I got as much stuff out of there as was practical, and everything else, had to leave it,” the 61-year-old told Stephens Media Hawaii shortly after the incident. “(The lava) was pretty much coming in the back as we were going out the front.”
Now, Thompson is a resident of Ainaloa, located just above the northern tip of the Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve where the June 27 lava flow is currently cutting its way down the mountain, possibly on a collision course with Pahoa and Highway 130.
This week, he told Stephens Media Hawaii he had been following closely the daily updates on the flow.
“I’ve been paying attention,” he said. “It’s a shame that it’s affecting people again. I mean, it’s really amazing that it’s threatening Pahoa. Who would have thought it would ever come this far in this direction?”
Thompson said he wasn’t terribly concerned about the lava working its way toward his neighborhood, but said he felt a connection with the people who may find themselves standing in Pele’s path.
He added, however, that this flow is vastly different from the one that took his Royal Gardens home.
“There’s no comparison, whatsoever, between the two,” he said. “This (current flow), it’s on relatively flat country. I lived on a steep mountain.
“(The lava) was coming down the steep mountain, and if it went by you, you didn’t have to worry about it spreading or coming back. In relatively flatter country, it can pretty much go anywhere. It can come back and get you. … It could do anything. You just never know.”
Even so, he said, the situation is manageable because of the relatively slow pace of the lava.
“It’s not that dangerous. It’s not gonna sneak up on you. It’s moving slow enough; people have time (to get out of the way),” he said.
Thompson added that the scariest thing homeowners and business owners will have to deal with may come after the lava passes through.
“I say it’s a shame it’s going to affect people again, because the system does a very poor job of dealing with (and) helping people,” he said. “The whole insurance system fails as far as dealing with the people.”
Thompson said he was abandoned by his insurance company when his Royal Gardens home, which he valued at $350,000, was destroyed. The experience has left a sour taste in his mouth.
“The first thing they did, when there was the first thought of any risk at all, the insurance companies ran off and left everybody stranded,” he said. “Insurance companies shouldn’t be allowed to collect people’s money for years and then at the first sign of risk drop them. That’s not insurance. That’s just thievery.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.