Update: Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano - Dramatic Pictures Emerging

Several fissures turn active at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano as lava flies 200ft into the air

• Hawaii's Kilauea volcano began spewing lava 200 feet into the air on Friday and also spitting out lava bombs  
• Kilauea has been erupting for more than two weeks and has caused devastation for residents of Big Island
• Apocalyptic scenes from the area show roads sinking into the ground and lava burning through towns
• Lava has destroyed more than 325 acres of land and forced thousands of locals to flee their homes
• Six fissures out of 22 were active on Friday, and spewing fresh lava, which moves faster and spreads further

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is violently spewing lava up to 200 feet in the air and firing out lava bombs the size of refrigerators in apocalyptic scenes with six of 22 fissures active on Friday.

The latest in more than two weeks of eruptions has sent fresher, hotter lava speeding towards an isolated residential area, and officials are using helicopters to see if there is anyone still there that needs assistance, Hawaii News Now reported. 

Residents who have already evacuated the affected area have been told not to try and return home, and emergency services and the national guard are being sent to secure the area and stop people re-entering.

Fissures 15, 17, 18, 20 and the newly opened 21st and 22nd crack were spewing lava on Friday, and two more homes have been claimed with officials saying the amount of destruction caused would only increase. 

In the hardest-hit areas of Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens, at least 325 acres of land has been covered by lava. 

While initial eruptions were sending lava from 1955 into the community, scientists have now established there is new lava flowing into Puna.

USGS geologist Janet Babb told Hawaii News Now fresher lava could reach areas further away. 

'With fresher, hotter magma, there's the potential that the lava flows can move with greater ease and therefore cover more area,' she said. 

A 'red level' of sulphur dioxide was recorded by Pahoa fire station, which means the gas coming from Kilauea could cause choking and an inability to breathe. 

Responders and residents still on the island are wearing gas masks to protect themselves from the toxic fumes. 

Scientists are so far unable to predict when the volcano will quiet, but a similar event in 1955 lasted 88 days.

'We have no way of knowing whether this is really the beginning or toward the end of this eruption,' said Tom Shea, a volcanologist at the University of Hawaii told Associated Press. 

'We're kind of all right now in this world of uncertainty.' 

Local resident Ikaika Marzo, 34, earlier told DailyMail.com he found the first fissure before 'all hell broke loose'. 

'There were earthquakes and cracks and we were checking things out when I saw the first fissure,' he said.

'It just popped and steam and sulphur came up and then it started to spatter.

'Then all hell broke loose. It was like a warzone, like being in Baghdad, loud bangs like bombs going off, you could hear it 20 miles away.

'It was pretty scary, a lot of people haven't been able to sleep all week, they are so traumatized by what has happened.'