Firefighters in Hawaii said a man suffered a serious injury to his leg when he was hit with lava spatter from the erupting Kilauea volcano.
Fire officials said the man was on his third floor balcony of his home on Noni Farms Road when he was hit in the shin, shattering the bottom part of his leg.
Spatter can weigh as much as a refrigerator, and even smaller pieces can be deadly.
This is the first serious injury reported from the eruption, which began nearly three weeks ago. As lava flows have grown more vigorous, there’s concern more homes may burn and more evacuations will be ordered.
Dozens of homes have burned from the eruption and brush fires from fissures forced new evacuations Saturday.
Officials want residents in the remote and rural area of the Big Island to heed evacuation warnings.
Most of the island and the rest of the state is unaffected by Kilauea’s volcanic activity.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
