A slow-moving lava flow from an erupting volcano on Hawaii's Big Island incinerated a house earlier today, the first home devoured by a stream of molten rock that has crept toward the village of Pahoa for weeks.
The house was abandoned some time ago, and no injuries were reported from the lava flow, which began oozing from Kilauea Volcano in late June.
Hawaii Civil Defense officials say no other residential structures are immediately threatened.
Residents of about 50 homes that lie in the projected path of the lava have been preparing to leave the area, many of them emptying their houses of belongings in case an evacuation should become necessary.
Kilauea's current eruption began in 1983, and the flow of lava that has menaced Pahoa began bubbling out of the volcano's Pu'u O'o vent on June 27.
Lava from Kilauea destroyed more than 180 homes between 1983 and 1990, but until this week none had been lost since 2012.
