County seeks alternative location for public to view lava
Member of the public were allowed on Wednesday to view in person the June 27th lava flow as it had stopped cold at the Pahoa Waste Transfer Station.
PAHOA, Hawaii » Hawaii County Civil Defense said Friday that an assessment will be made about whether the $3.9 million Pahoa Recycling and Transfer Station, currently used by the public for lava viewing, can be reopened.
Darryl Oliveira, Hawaii County Civil Defense director, said public viewing of the lava will be shut down in February and March so that the county Department of Environmental Management can assess restoring the facility. Largely constructed of steel and concrete, the facility was built in 2011.
However, that doesn’t mean all lava-viewing will come to an end.
"We’re looking at alternatives for lava-viewing," Oliveira said.
On Friday officials changed the hours of operation for lava-viewing at the transfer station to 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Also on Friday the county Department of Parks and Recreation took over management of the area from Civil Defense.
Public viewing will be closed Jan. 27 and 29, when viewing will be reserved for area students only.
Meanwhile, county officials continue to monitor a breakout of lava upslope of the stalled flow front that advanced 130 yards since Thursday morning.
A two-fingered narrow lobe of lava about 1.6 miles upslope of the Pahoa Marketplace moved 180 yards during the past two days in a north-northeast direction.
The lobe has entered a drain that leads toward Highway 130 in an area south of the Maku‘u Farmers Market. However, lava is still 2.2 miles from that point and moving along slowly, volcano scientists said Friday.
The front, or "tip," of the flow remains stalled about 880 yards from the intersection of Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road. The front hasn’t moved in a week, but there’s still some activity about 300 yards upslope, county officials said.
