Toxic sulfur dioxide from Kilauea is a major concern for Big Island families but figuring out how much danger is in the air can be difficult.

County officials have now developed a color-coded alert system to make the information easier to understand.

Authorities will start using the warning levels on Thursday. Thirty-thousand brochures are being distributed through school and community associations to help explain the sulfur dioxide scale.

Scientists are monitoring all of Kilauea's activity, from lava oozing into the ocean to the gas plume darkened by ash.

"Earlier it was white then it started to gray up on us but right now it's a light grey," said Hawaii County mayor Harry Kim.

Big Island families are also on alert. The volcano is a hot topic in communities across the island.

"The vog and the ash and now you're learning more about it so everybody's getting a lot more concerned," said Kona resident Scott Carson.

The amount of sulfur dioxide at Halemaumau Crater has dropped by half since last week but that is still several times the normal level at the summit. All the information can be confusing so the county came up with a sulfur dioxide scale using five colors.

Green means there is minimal risk. Children and people with respiratory conditions should try to avoid going outside when the alert level is yellow. They should just stay indoors when the warning level is orange. Red means people having respiratory problems should consider leaving the area. Everyone else should avoid going outside. Purple means possible evacuations.

"That's why we have to make sure we beef up our emergency room and medical responders because purple is an extreme number and that's a very, very high level of sulfur dioxide," Kim said.

"More information would be good for everybody, especially here on the Big Island cause we're so close to everything and that would just help everybody out and make everybody feel a lot more comfortable," said Carson.

Some special visitors are being allowed into a restricted part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Fifteen hula halau that will compete in the Merrie Monarch Festival are being escorted by park staff to the crater to make offerings to Pele.

"If the plume or the wind should change while they're in ceremony then we would take them out of the area," said anthropologist Keola Awong.

Mayor Kim said Pahala is the only district with sulfur dioxide levels high enough to use the color scale. The level there is yellow.

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