JANICE WEI / NATIONAL PARK SERVICE A family of three looks out over Kilauea Summit and Halemaumau Crater after the last eruption was paused. A boy came across a closed area at the Kilauea Overlook on Wednesday.
JANICE WEI / NATIONAL PARK SERVICE A family of three looks out over Kilauea Summit and Halemaumau Crater after the last eruption was paused. A boy came across a closed area at the Kilauea Overlook on Wednesday.
A boy, about 2 to 3 years old, encountered a closed area Wednesday at the Kilauea Overlook, less than a foot from the rim of Kaluapele, the summit caldera, before his mother managed to pull him to safety.
Jessica Ferracane, public affairs specialist for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, happened to be there and witnessed the shocking scene just before sunset on Christmas Day.
Ferracane said she was about to tell a screaming woman to leave the enclosed area behind a post-and-wire barrier when she realized the woman — the child’s mother — grabbed the boy just in the nick of time.
Ferracane said if he had gone over the edge it would have been a certain fatal fall of more than 400 feet into Kaluapele, the caldera at the top of the volcano, and “a terrible way to remember Christmas.”
“We always tell visitors to keep your children close, but when you see something like this happen and someone almost dies, it’s a really disturbing experience for everyone there,” she said.
The family was clearly shocked, but a hush fell over the dozens of people who gathered there, Ferracane said.
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Visitors have flocked to Kilauea after it began erupting on December 23, and lava fountains have been active in recent days.
There was a second lull Wednesday around 11 a.m., but the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says the eruption could start again at any time and toxic gas emissions are still high.
The glow of Halemaumau, the lava lake, which is part of Kaluapele, the entire summit caldera, is visible from the viewpoint. The lava lake has grown to 600 hectares since the major eruption of 2018. Before the great collapse, the lava lake was only 4 hectares in size.
The Park Service and rangers remind visitors to stay on the trail, stay out of closed areas and keep their children close, especially when viewing Kilauea from vantage points along the Crater Rim Trail.
Ferracane said there were about six or seven adults in the family standing in an open space.
“They weren’t paying attention and the child walked into the locked room,” she said.
They didn’t speak English, she said, and couldn’t talk to them because they also left immediately after the incident.
“The hazards that coincide with an eruption are dangerous, and we have safety measures in place including closed areas, barriers, closure signs and traffic management,” park Superintendent Rhonda Loh said in a written statement. “Your safety is our greatest concern, but we trust that everyone will recreate responsibly. National parks show the beauty of nature, but are not playgrounds.”
Glassy volcanic particles called tephra cover the closed portion of Crater Rim Drive, downstream from the lava fountains.
Visitors should check air quality before their visit. People with breathing or heart problems and pregnant women and children are especially sensitive to volcanic gas, the park service says.
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