Firefighters extinguished a brush fire in Puna sparked by the June 27 lava flow from Kilauea volcano, county Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Oliveira said during a conference call that the fire scorched 300 acres of land around the flow front. He said firefighters were “mopping up a few hot spots” Tuesday morning, but described the perimeter as “pretty secure.”
“It moved to the north toward the Ainaloa subdivision,” he said. “Fortunately, with the brush fire a few weeks back, private contractors and the Department of Public Works had cut a firebreak … and made a nice containment area for the brush fire. (Monday), it did jump a small area of the break, I would estimate no more than 25 yards … and the units were on scene, so they were able to put that out pretty quick.”
Oliveira said the flow front had moved between 120 and 150 yards from its position Monday.
“It’s still fairly narrow,” he said. “It’s right up against the treeline to the southeast of the Kaohe subdivision … still moving in the track that had been identified previously.”
As of Tuesday, the flow front was 0.95 miles from Apaa Street and the Pahoa transfer station, about 1.6 miles from Pahoa Village Road and 1.9 miles from Highway 130, Oliveira said. He added that officials are “still quite a ways out from any kind of evacuation trigger” and Civil Defense is working with Hawaiian Volcano Observatory “on refining the methodology by which we’ll do some kind of timelines when it will reach roadways, etc.”
“We’re watching closely to see if there are any changes in the flow rates day to day,” he said.
Steve Brantley, HVO acting scientist-in-charge, said between Friday and Tuesday, the flow front was moving about 131 yards a day with the output from Puu Oo vent remaining relatively constant. He said if the lava front continues at its current rate, it would hit Apaa Street “about Oct. 20,” but cautioned that’s a long-term projection and not a prediction.
“The thing to remember is that the advance rates of the flow have been variable over the past month all the way from zero to perhaps as much as 450 (yards) a day,” he said. “So, it’s very difficult and problematic to try to estimate the arrival time of the flow too far in advance because you’re almost certainly going to be wrong.”
Oliveira said lower Puna residents who require long-term health care and can’t evacuate should contact their physicians or the Public Health Nursing office at 974-6025 to notify officials of their needs as soon as possible.
“We realize that people may have limited choices, … but if we can be aware of where those vulnerable populations are … we can respond to their needs,” he said.
County Public Works Director Warren Lee said work on Railroad Avenue and Government Beach Road is complete and signage is being installed along Kahakai Boulevard and Makuu Drive.
“At the key intersections on Makuu and Railroad and also Kahakai and Railroad — also known as Kahala — we’re putting in temporary traffic signals that would flash red, green (and) yellow. Initially, that would start off with four-way flashing reds,” he said.
Lee also said work continues from the Kalapana end of Chain of Craters Road to cut through the lava covering the roadway.
“We got about 3.3 miles in from the Kalapana end and we’re breaking through. We rough graded. … We’ve got about 1 1/4 miles to get to the boundary of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. That is going slow, but still going forward,” he said.
Lee added he hopes additional earth-moving equipment can start rough-grading the road within the park sometime next week and bulldozers can “work toward the center.”
Lee said discussions are ongoing with the National Park Service officials to cut the makeshift road wider than the 18-foot width currently approved by the feds. National Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando previously stated a two-lane road would require an environmental impact statement.
Lee said the current work would create “basically one lane and shoulders.”
“There would be pull-outs in the system, so you could take two-way traffic, but not continuous two-way traffic or dedicated lanes,” he said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.