Hawaiian homeowner Gary Sleik has been living in a home threatened by Hawaii's gentle volcano for more than three years. In the early hours of the morning the lava overtook his home, and Sleik watched it burn.
Kilauea has been oozing lave for 27 years and may be the world's most active volcano. Subdivisions have been leveled under its advance. Experts believe that Kilauea's eruptions once hurled rocks as far as 10 miles. In recent years, its slow, molten rivers have been approached by locals wearing flip-flops.
In The Control of Nature, John McPhee writes about Kilauea. "There have been times of crisis when it was consuming a house every 30 minutes." He says Kilauea has also leveled numerous marijuana fields.
National Geographic says, "Lava is a fact of life in Kalapana, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Big Island's Kilauea volcano, known for its lazy streams of fluid rock. Situated within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea may be the only volcano in the world with a drive-in caldera. It's been oozing smooth pahoehoe lava since 1983."
According to a 2004 National Geographic article, "The eruption oozed enough lava in its first 20 years to pave a road to the moon five times."
Gary Sleik welcomes an end to the stress. Other structures nearby had already been claimed in Kilauea's advance. Sleik shared a bottle of wine with a friend while watching his home burn.
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