The June 27 lava flow stalled at its front Thursday outside a Pahoa home while activity continued about 400 yards upslope.
Resident Alfred Lee said lava stopped just a few feet from a large berm he created to protect his house off Pahoa Village Road.
“Now, it’s just wait and see,” said Lee, who has extended the berm around two sides of his home.
The front was about 470 feet from the road, which serves as Pahoa’s main artery, and even closer to his house.
Lava was also on his neighbor’s property to the southeast, where it was threatening what appeared to be a shade house. A woman who answered the phone at that residence declined to comment.
Another home upslope remained about 100 feet from the flow.
Lee estimated his barrier was between 10 and 15 feet tall. Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira said the county is not asking him to stop building the berm, which would appear to direct the flow toward another neighbor’s house if it proves successful.
That home already appeared to be in the flow’s path based on lines of steepest descent identified by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. It was unclear if anyone was still residing there, though it appeared empty.
It also remained to be seen how the barrier would impact the flow, if it would protect Lee’s home or if it would put others at risk.
He said he still wasn’t sleeping easy knowing that lava remained dangerously close.
“If it comes through one time and pau then I can get a good night sleep,” Lee said.
“Right now, I can’t have a good night sleep. … You are always up and looking.”
Meanwhile, a lobe advanced near Apaa Street and could threaten a nearby ranch house, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists reported.
The breakout started about 167 yards above Apaa Street and had advanced about 110 yards by Thursday morning.
Oliveira said it’s possible that lobe, which also threatened another utility pole, could become the new flow front.
HVO geologists said Kilauea is in a period of deflation and that could lower the volume of lava being fed to the flow.
Utility poles on Apaa Street/Cemetery Road have been surrounded with cinder rock and insulating material to protect them from the lava’s intense heat.
Rhea Lee, Hawaii Electric Light Co. administration manager, said the utility is monitoring the poles to see how well the protective material works.
Lava came into contact with one pole, which dropped about 10 feet after burning toward the base. She said the pole remains intact and the burning appears to have stopped.
Utility poles on Pahoa Village Road also have been insulated, and Oliveira said the Fire Department plans to spray water and fire retardant on them before lava arrives to provide extra protection.
Oliveira said the county and state Department of Transportation are prepared to close Highway 130 once lava nears the road, but there was no “trigger point” at this time for when that would occur.
On Thursday, there was no school for students at Pahoa High & Intermediate, Pahoa Elementary, Keaau High and Keaau Middle as faculty, staff and administrators worked to move operations to alternate locations to serve students cut off from school should lava cross the highway.
Pahoa secondary school students who live north of the expected lava crossing point will report to their new campuses at Keaau High and Keaau Middle on Nov. 7. Pahoa Elementary students on the northern end of the flow will report to a new campus of temporary mobile classrooms set up at Keaau High. The campus has been dubbed Keonepoko North.
Keonepoko Elementary, which lies directly along the lines of steepest descent that have been used by HVO scientists to predict the possible path of the lava, closed Wednesday and will remain closed indefinitely. Those students also will report to Keonepoko North on Nov. 10.
Currently, the state Department of Education does not plan on requiring students to make up the lost school days because of the closures, according to spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz.
“Not at this time. That’s not the plan,” she said. “This is an emergency situation. The goal is to continue education, which is why we made contingency plans. We put them in place and they are now going into effect. We are set up to educate kids and will tighten up where necessary.”
Bus stop pickups will remain the same, except for students living in the Hawaiian Beaches/Shores area, who are picked up on Kahakai Boulevard at every crossing intersection.
Their pick-up times will be moved up 10 to 15 minutes earlier, and students should plan to be at the stops 15 minutes earlier than the new pick-up times. These buses will be taking students to either Pahoa High & Intermediate or Pahoa Elementary.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.