PHOTO GALLERY: Lava ignites first Pahoa home

Lava breakouts advanced above the stalled flow front after burning a home on Monday, but an overflight Tuesday morning did not reveal immediate threats to other structures.

Active lava remained about 22 yards from the fence of the refuse transfer station and continued to expand through private property across the street from the station on Tuesday.

Another active finger of lava was about 820 yards from Apaa Street and 765 yards above the transfer station, just above a narrow gulley through which lava advanced toward Pahoa more than two weeks ago.

Lava from the flow that began on June 27 claimed its first house Monday.

At 11:55 a.m., firefighters standing by to tackle any spreading wildfires let flames consume the 1,100-square-foot structure as a relative of the homeowner watched and recorded video of the destruction with an iPhone. 

The home’s nearest neighbor is about a half-mile away, Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira said. A garage and barn structure near the destroyed home could also burn down soon, he said. 

“The flow is widening enough, and we’re hopeful that things will cool down enough that the (garage and barn) structure will be spared, but it’s possible it could catch on fire as well,” Olivera said.

As of Monday afternoon the width of the flow on the property was about 150 feet and was nearing a fishpond.

The lava emerged from a vent in June and entered Pahoa, the largest town in Big Island’s isolated and mostly agricultural Puna district, on Oct. 26. Since then, it has smothered part of a cemetery and burned down a garden shed and open-air cattle shelter. It also burned tires, some metal materials and mostly vegetation in its path.

The leading edge of the lava flow had bypassed the home, but it was a lobe of lava that broke out upslope and widened that reached the house. Where the lava will reach next, and when, is hard to predict.

The county estimates the value of the destroyed home at about $200,000, Oliveira said. The renters left in August, he said. 

Officials would make arrangements for homeowners to watch any homes burn as a means of closure and to document the destruction for insurance purposes.

The front of the flow stalled Oct. 30 and remained about 480 feet from Pahoa Village Road on Monday, a main street that goes through downtown.

Crews have been working on alternate routes to be used when lava hits Highway 130, considered a lifeline for the Puna district.

Many residents have evacuated or are ready to leave if necessary.

Imelda Raras lives on the other end of Apaa Street from where the lava burned its first house. She and her family have put a lot of their belongings in storage and are prepared to go to a friend’s home if the lava gets close.

“I’m scared right now,” she said as she watched smoke from the burning house. “What will happen next? We will be waiting.”

Raras said she’s thinking about the mounting storage costs.

“I think our lives will be unstable,” she said. “I hope our house will be spared.”

The family is ready to go, but Raras said they will do so with heavy hearts. 

“Because it’s hard to leave your own house,” she said. “It’s one of the hardest things to do.”