Lava Flow Destroys First House

HONOLULU — A stream of lava set a home on fire Monday in a rural Hawaii town that has been watching 

the slow-moving flow for months.

The molten rock hit the house around midday. The home's renters already had left the residence in Pahoa, the largest town in Big Island's isolated and mostly agricultural Puna district.

It could take 30 to 40 minutes for the home to burn down, said Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira.

The lava from Kilauea volcano emerged from a vent in June and entered Pahoa Oct. 26, when it crossed a country road at the edge of town. Since then, it smothered part of a cemetery and burned down a garden shed. It also burned tires, some metal materials and mostly vegetation in its path.

Firefighters will basically let a structure burn but fight any fires that spread or threaten other structures, Oliveira said.

A relative of the home's owners, who live on the mainland, was planning to be at the site to watch the house burn, Oliveira said. He said officials made arrangements for homeowners to watch any homes burn as a means of closure and to document the destruction for insurance purposes.