Eruption concerns along West Coast

Huge fissure opens on Hawaiian volcano; some defy evacuation order

SPOKANE, Washington — The eruption of a Hawaii volcano has people warily eyeing volcanic peaks on the West Coast of the United States.

The West Coast is home to a 1,300-kilometer chain of 13 volcanoes from Washington state’s Mount Baker to California’s Lassen Peak. They include Mount St. Helens, whose spectacular 1980 eruption in the Pacific Northwest killed dozens of people and sent volcanic ash across the country, and massive Mount Rainier, which towers above the Seattle metro area. The peaks are part of the “Ring of Fire” — volcanoes that sit on tectonic plates. Hawaii is not part of the Ring of Fire.

“There’s lots of anxiety out there,” said Liz Westby, geologist at the US Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, in the shadow of Mount St. Helens. “They see destruction, and people get nervous.”

Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, is threatening to blow its top in coming days or weeks after sputtering lava for a week, forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate, destroying dozens of homes and threatening a geothermal plant. Experts fear the volcano could hurl ash and boulders the size of refrigerators miles into the air.

A massive new fissure opened on Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday.

Seen from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 300 meters long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 1,200meter volcano with a lake of lava at its summit.

“It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earthshattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound (45-kilogram) lava bombs 100 feet (30 meters) into the air,” said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.

Ring of fire

Roughly make up

450 volcanoes this horseshoe- shaped belt. The belt follows the coasts of South America, North America, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It’s known for frequent volcanic and seismic activity caused by the colliding of crustal plates.

Outside of Hawaii, the US’ most dangerous volcanoes are all part of the Ring of Fire, according to the US Geological Survey. They include: Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier in Washington; Mount Hood and South Sister in Oregon; and Mount Shasta and Lassen Volcanic Center in California.

Images of lava flowing from the ground and homes going up in flames in Hawaii have stoked unease among residents. But experts say an eruption in Hawaii doesn’t necessarily signal danger on the West Coast.

“These are isolated systems,” Westby said.

West Coast eruptions?

No eruption seems imminent, experts say.

The Cascades Volcano Observatory monitors volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest and posts weekly status reports. All currently register “normal”.

But the change fast.

“All our mountains are considered active and, geologically speaking, things seem to happen in the Northwest about every 100 years,” said John Ufford, preparedness manager for the Washington Emergency Management Division. “It’s an inexact timeline.”

Some geologists believe Mount St. Helens is the most likely to erupt.

But six other Cascade volcanoes have been active in the past 300 years, including steam eruptions at Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak and a 1915 blast at Lassen Peak that destroyed nearby ranches. situation can