Towering lava fountains from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano reached about 1,000 feet (300 meters) Tuesday morning, leading officials to close parts of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and temporarily restrict travel on Highway 11 because of falling volcanic fragments and ash, known as tephra. The episode, which was visible on livestream footage showing two bright-red lava fountains and smoke, marked Kilauea’s 43rd fountaining event since the eruption began in December 2024.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park officials said the molten rock remained confined within Kilauea’s summit crater inside the park, and the agency reported that the episode had not threatened homes or buildings. Even so, the tephra falling beyond the crater created problems for neighboring communities and for the road corridor near the park.
Officials said the tephra prompted temporary closures at the national park around the summit area. Highway 11, a key route around the island, also saw a partial closure on either side of the park, a move tied to the ash and tephra drifting into the travel area.
Hawaii County officials opened a shelter at a district gymnasium for residents and tourists affected by the road closure or the falling tephra. Tom Callis, a county spokesperson, said there were no people using the shelter soon after it opened.
The National Weather Service issued an ashfall warning as the fountaining episode continued. County officials said volcanic tephra can irritate eyes, skin, and the respiratory system, and they warned it can also clog and create other problems for water catchment collection systems that are common in some parts of the Big Island.
Callis said ash fell so heavily during a previous fountaining episode that some communities needed help from county civil defense workers to clean ash that coated their homes. In the current episode, authorities did not provide a timeline for how long the lava fountaining might last, saying it was unclear how long the fountains would continue; the report noted that some episodes have lasted a few days while others have lasted only a few hours.
Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and it has been erupting on an on-and-off schedule for more than a year, periodically sending lava fountains soaring above the summit crater.