Last resident has seen lava flows come and go

PAHOA, Hawaii » The last remaining resident of a Hawaii island subdivision where other residents were driven away by lava flows isn’t bothered by the latest flow about 500 feet from his house.

Jack Thompson, 61, built his three-bedroom house in Royal Gardens in the early 1980s. In 1983 the first eruption from what is now known as Puu Oo occurred. Kilauea volcano has been erupting continuously since then, forcing neighbors to abandon the subdivision.

Thompson happened to build on a slight ridge that has spared him from previous flows.

"Things are fine," the California native told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald during a recent trip to Pahoa to pick up supplies.

Thompson walks several miles from his house to a lava viewing area to get rides but sometimes hitches a ride on a helicopter. One recent flight for a dental appointment raised speculation that he had to be evacuated.

He has a grove of fruit trees, satellite television, solar power, propane fuel and a refrigerator he turns on only for guests. He tries to live off the land and heads into town every eight to 10 days when he runs out of food.

"There’s nothing around that’s worth hauling out," he said when asked what he would do if his house burned down. "Just a few personal items."

A Russian diplomat, in Hawaii for the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting on Oahu, visited last month, he said. He also gets visits from the occasional pig hunter.

The U.S. Geological Survey on Monday said lava continued to flow into the tube system that descends the east flank of the Puu Oo cone, through the subdivision, across the coastal plain and "probably into the ocean."

Thompson said the slope directs the lava away, and once it goes past, it stays within a tube.

"This is not going to bother me," he said.