Not really.
Lots of people treat volcanoes as spectator events. Even people who live on the slopes of one. @CairoCarol would not be complaining of heavy traffic on the road to the eruption if everyone was fleeing in a panic.
Absolutely. There are different kinds of volcanoes - and for sure, if you are near a stratovolcano that is rumbling, and civil defense tells you to evacuate, you should. People who didn’t heed the warnings before the Mt. St. Helens eruptions died.
But Kīlauea isn’t a stratovolcano, it’s a shield volcano. As long as you stay far enough away, it’s safe to enjoy the show.
You can even get pretty close to some. I was in Iceland a year ago and they had a volcano going off. Many people walked right up to it.
Spouting lava straight up right now. It’s still dark there and you can see the lava spreading on the crater floor.
I’m in Honolulu, so no angst over “should we or should we not jump in the car and go see it?” Looks great on YouTube, though.
Spectacular ! (on V1, V2 and V3)
Some of the ejections look like starling murmurations when they turn
from red to black (presumably due to cooling ? or is it lighter black stuff
blowing away ?)
Incredible. I’m enjoying the view from V1 right now
Some of them must be reaching 2000 feet. They are going off-camera!
I bet you mean 200 feet.
But yes, it’s pretty.
No, I meant 2000 feet, but I could be way off! I’m basing that on my very faulty memory of eruptions from a few weeks ago that were described as 1000 ft+ and these look twice as high, going off the top of the screen and all. But I admit I could be wrong. Don’t ask me to provide a cite for the 1000 ft claim!
Here is a very recent quote from this live feed
“USGS: Episode 26 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at approximately 1:40 a.m. HST on June 20, 2025, with lava fountains and flows erupting from the north vent. Lava fountains are currently reaching heights of over 1,000 feet (300 meters).”
Another similar message, posted yesterday on the Observatory Messages page of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.
Kilauea Message 2025-06-20 02:23:33 HST
Episode 26 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at approximately 1:40 AM HST, June 20, with lava fountains and flows erupting from the north vent. Fountain heights are well over 1,000 feet (300 m). Plume is over 20,000 ft (6,000 m)
Bolding mine
Color me both chastised and confused about the scale of the scene. I was thinking the crater floor to crater rim was 300-500 feet. Seems to be a good deal more than that.
I didn’t mean to chastise! But after I said “Don’t ask me for a cite” I started wondering where I saw the 1000 ft claim. I googled around and found the first cite, then later found the second. I only posted it because it seemed more definitive, coming directly from the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.
Size/distance is impossible to assess from the web cams. Hell, even when I’m there the scale is hard to comprehend. The “close” viewing areas are ??? a mile or more away? I’m not sure.