The June 27 lava flow remains active but showed no signs of advancing during the past 24 hours, the Hawaii County Civil Defense reported Monday morning.
The flow remains about 0.6 miles from the Apaa Street area, Civil Defense said. A very narrow finer along the east edge of the flow front has advanced about 30 yards. However, this finger remains behind the flow front and is moving very slowly.
Little burning activity was reported Monday morning. Smoke conditions were reported as light to moderate. All burning activity associated with the lava flow is limited to vegetation in direct contact with the lava and there is no brush fire threat at this time, officials said.
Currently, the lava flow does not pose an immediate threat to area communities and evacuation is not necessary. Civil Defense says it will provide adequate notice to safely evacuate should it become necessary.
However, the state Department of Health suggests that residents dependent on medical services, treatment or supplies and who live in communities that may be cutoff by the advancing lava flow to relocate outside the affected area to ensure continued access to necessary medical support. If the lava flow crosses Highway 130, medical services and supplies will be severely limited and emergency medical service response time may be significantly delayed.
The flow is not visible and cannot be accessed from any public areas, according to Civil Defense. Access to the Kaohe Homesteads subdivision remains restricted to area residents.
In addition, the County of Hawaii has established an Incident Command Center and Informational Resource Center at the Pahoa Community Center. Residents are invited to the information center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday next week for answers to their questions.