The News, Hot Off The Presses

The News, Hot Off The Presses was Originally Posted on July 26, 2010 by lavarock

Sometimes you come upon a news location after the fact, such as when I got lost and ended up in front of the recently famous “Columbine High School”. I also was present at the Atlanta Olympic bombing site the first day it was opened to the public after the event. I didn’t expect to see these places and was somewhat surprised when I happened upon them.

Then there are times when you plan to be at an event as it happens, such as the famous Beach Boys concert on the Mall in DC or the first Shuttle Launch.

Finally, there are times you find yourself at a location before an event and know a diaster is coming. That is the case today when I heard that the western-most house at Kalapana is starting to burn down. My friend Sandra and I were at that location the other day and I have photos of the houses down there. Because we were there during the day, it was difficult to see flowing red lava, however I have photos and a video that show the smoke and steam next to these houses.

I believe this is the house, because it had the most smoke around it. We were not allowed to go any closer. The house caught fire overnight and is gone.

Here is why they don’t allow cars any further. It truely now is the End Of The Road you hear about.

Finally, here is a ridge up above where we were. You can see the trail of smoke from the above-ground lava flow.

You can imagine that even though some people have their houses up for sale, they may not actually sell them. You should note that if their houses burn down because of lava, they still have to pay any mortgage payments they still owe.

UPDATE: This page will show you some of the viewing sites and how close you can get. The sites shown here are now closed as we viewed even further back as the lava covered uncovered areas.

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/images.html