The ongoing eruption from Kilauea Volcano that began on Jan. 3, 1983, already has burned and buried more than 300 homes, including some that were rebuilt only to be destroyed again.

And still, the residents of Hawaii island’s vast Puna district continue to coexist with an unpredictable lake of 2,100 degrees of heat and fire that once again is threatening homes and people.

"It’s been lava flow after lava flow after lava flow," said Piilani Kaawaloa, who has been forced to evacuate three times and over the past three decades has watched dozens of homes owned by family members get slowly eaten by fire and lava.

Kaawaloa still lives in her family’s three-bedroom, two-bath house in Pahoa, situated less than 2 miles from Friday’s latest lava sighting. Scientists estimate that the flow could reach the rural Kaohe Homesteads sometime next week.

Even if lava claims her house, Kaawaloa has no intention of leaving Puna, a district of 45,000 people that encompasses more real estate than the entire island of Oahu.

"We’re accustomed to living in these kinds of conditions," Kaawaloa said. "The beauty is that I get to experience and see every day the creation of Mother Earth. To be able to say that I am witnessing this and seeing this happen is truly amazing for me."

It’s not just Native Hawaiians who grew up on the land who feel like Kaawaloa.

"It crosses all cultures and races here," said Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira. "It is the predominant point of view that it (lava) is a natural phenomenon, that we are living on a volcanic island. A minority feel differently. But the overall sentiment is that this is part of where we live and this is one of the hazards in our backyard."

An "eruption warning" remained in effect Friday as lava advanced about 150 yards east/northeast from the day before. No one was being asked to evacuate.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Friday signed an emergency proclamation in case the lava crosses Highway 130 and cuts off lower Puna from the rest of the island.

Abercrombie’s proclamation suspends certain laws, including state restrictions on re-establishing abandoned roads that could be used if Highway 130 becomes covered in lava. It also activates the Major Disaster Fund set aside by the Legislature for disaster relief.

The state Health Department on Friday also warned residents to be prepared for smoke from burning vegetation and low levels of sulfur dioxide from gas emitted by Kilauea.

As the former Hawaii island fire chief and now head of Civil Defense, Oliveira said he can’t count the number of homes he’s seen destroyed by lava.

But Oliveira also has seen remarkable resolve and resiliency from homeowners who could do nothing but stand by while lava inched closer to their homes with temperatures so hot that the radiating heat alone can set a building ablaze while still 30 yards to 40 yards away.

"Put yourself in someone’s shoes watching this very slow process play out," Oliveira said.

State and county officials are continuing to bar nonresidents from entering the Kaohe Homesteads where lava is within about 0.8 mile of the subdivision’s property line.

"We want to respect a homeowner’s privacy — watching their dreams be taken," Oliveira said.

The June 27 flow, known for the date it originated, is the most recent from the eruption that began 31 years ago in the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano. It’s also the first to threaten homes since 2010-2011.

The rural community of Kaohe Homesteads, which is in its path, comprises an estimated 30 families that live between the Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve and the town of Pahoa.

"It’s pretty scary," said Becky Pau, 85, of Puna’s Paradise Park.

Pau grew up in Puna’s Queen’s Bath area, where lava has destroyed her father’s house and her cousin’s houses.

For two weeks in 1986, flowing lava stopped just 1 foot from Pau’s own two-story, five-bedroom, two-bath house.

Then on the night of Dec. 6, 1986, Pau could only watch as lava spilled into her home.

"For two weeks it had just stagnated, then it built up and built and there was so much pressure that the thing just erupted and flowed like water," Pau said. "You could see the glow underneath the (lava) tube and it surrounded the house in the front and both sides. We just stood there. In no time, my house burned."

Pau left Queen’s Bath because, "I was the only one left. I’m thinking to myself, ‘What’s the sense of living there alone surrounded by black lava?’"

But she could never bring herself to leave the Puna district.

"I’m very, very fortunate to be able to live here," she said.

Some area residents such as former mayor and former Civil Defense chief Harry Kim maintain that they’ll never leave despite the constant threat of hurricanes, tsunamis and lava.

The people of Puna are continuing to dig out and recover from Tropical Storm Iselle, which destroyed homes and knocked out power after it blew across Hawaii island on Aug. 7.

"Puna is my home," Kim said. "We all bought here knowing the hazards, knowing the risks."

Kim’s main residence is in Hilo. But he also owns a beachfront cottage in Kapoho that sustained thousands of dollars in damage when Iselle tore off a stairway, walls, fencing and a gate that Kim has yet to repair.

Like so many others, Kim is well aware of the current threat from Madame Pele after watching his neighbors’ homes burn and then get buried during his tenure as head of Civil Defense and later as mayor.

"The movement of the lava is agonizingly slow," Kim said. "It’s like watching a black glacier. Then, all of a sudden, everything you know is gone, buried under 10, 20, 30, 40 feet of black rock. We’ve stopped asking the question when she will stop. The question is, where will she flow next?"

Asked to explain how he can stay in Puna knowing better than most the natural threats around him, Kim repeated what a Hawaiian homeowner told him as they watched lava destroy the homeowner’s house.

"He said, ‘It’s the Hawaiian acceptance of Pele’s ways. Pele gives and Pele takes. When you live in Pele’s home, you just accept that.’"