A spectacular lava fountain from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano soared to 300 meters (1,000 feet) on Tuesday, leading to temporary closures at a national park and a key highway due to falling glassy volcanic fragments and ash.
The eruption on Hawaii’s Big Island has captivated residents and visitors for over a year with its intermittent bursts of lava.
Tuesday’s fountaining marked the 43rd episode since the current activity began in December 2024.
Live streams showed two bright-red lava fountains and smoke.
The duration of the latest display remains uncertain, with previous episodes lasting from a few hours to several days.
The molten rock is confined within Kilauea’s summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, posing no threat to homes or buildings.
However, the lava fountains were creating trouble for neighboring communities and a highway where the volcanic fragments and ash, known as tephra, was falling.
The tephra prompted temporary closures at the national park around the summit and a partial closure of Highway 11, an important route around the island, on either side of the park.
Hawaii County officials also opened a shelter at a district gymnasium for residents and tourists impacted by the road closure or falling tephra.
There were no people using the shelter soon after it opened, said Tom Callis, a county spokesperson.
The National Weather Service issued an ashfall warning.
Volcanic tephra can irritate eyes, skin and the respiratory system, according to county officials. Tephra also can clog and cause other problems with water catchment collection systems, which are common in some parts of the Big Island, officials said.
Ash fell so heavily during a previous fountaining episode that some communities needed help from county civil defense workers to clean up ash that coated their homes, Callis said.
Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.
