Kilauea’s fissure 8 gets a name

Fissure 8, the most prolific and prominent vent in the 2018 eruption of Kilauea, finally has a name: Ahu’aila’au.

The Hawaii Board on Geographic Names approved the name that refers to the altar of the volcano deity ‘Aila‘au, it was announced today.

The name was selected from dozens of community-submitted proposals in a process that lasted for more than two years, in part, because of delays created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Proposed names were accepted by the board through June 30, 2019, and the board traveled to Puna several times to listen to testimony from the community before the pandemic.

Hawaii County Council had requested that the board consult with the communities impacted by the eruption to ensure traditional, cultural, and family ties were considered before naming Fissure 8 and any of the other features of the 2018 eruption.

“We are excited to have a name that provides a sense of place, history, and cultural identity to the fissure that took with it so many memories,” Hawaii Mayor Mitch Roth said in a news release. “To understand the power of mother nature is to understand the stories and context in which our ancestors have explained it. Ahuʻailaʻau is an embodiment of how Hawaiians have explained the natural phenomenon for generations, and it is integral to our understanding of this place.”

Ahu’aila’au was the eighth of 24 earth fissures that spewed lava initially within the rural Leilani Estates subdivision in Pahoa. It became the dominant and longest-lasting eruption spot from which magma shot up more than 200 feet into the air. What’s left today is a cinder cone 100-feet tall or so.

The Hawaii Board on Geographic Names is responsible for designating the official names and spellings of geographic features in Hawaii.