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Erupting volcano on Hawaii releases life-threatening gas

PAHOA, Hawaii — Images of the eruption of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii offer a vivid display of yellow and red lava bubbling from fissures, orange fires, and white smoke, but authorities on Saturday warned of something unseen but no less dangerous: high levels of sulfur dioxide gas.

Gaseous sulfur dioxide, which is colorless and smells like a burning match, can cause serious eye, nose and skin irritation as well as coughing, headaches and shortness of breath.

People with cardiovascular disease or respiratory ailments, such as asthma, are especially vulnerable.

“I know police, fire, who have been exposed to the gas, pretty much all of them went home sick with headaches,” Talmadge Magno, head of the Civil Defense Agency, said Friday. He explained that sulfur dioxide affects everyone differently, and almost always adversely. “If you’ve got any respiratory issues, it could be deadly to you.”

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The gases are released from magma when the pressure of the earth is no longer able to contain them, similar to opening a bottle of Champagne or a can of soda, said Esteban Gazel, an associate professor at Cornell University, who studies volcanoes.

Elena Cabatu, a spokeswoman for the Hilo Medical Center in Hilo, Hawaii, the main hospital that was prepared to treat affected patients, said Saturday that there had not been an increase in emergency room visits, adding that people so far appeared to have stayed away from the areas with the highest concentration of gases.

Residents of the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions were ordered to evacuate, officials said.

The Hawaii Police Department and members of the National Guard were helping to enforce road closings where gas levels were deemed unsafe.

There had been no reports of injuries or death, according to officials. As of Saturday afternoon, at least five homes had been destroyed by lava, said Janet Snyder, a spokeswoman for the office of the mayor of Hawaii County. New fissures were also reported. Officials said firefighters were not responding to fires within the subdivisions because of the high levels of gas.

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The volcanic eruptions on the southern end of the island of Hawaii prompted about 66 residents to go to shelters Friday night and forced the closing of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

MEGHAN MINER MURRAY and CHRISTINA CARON © 2018 The New York Times

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