Hey everyone, it’s Jake here, and if you’ve been following my work in volcanic hazard mitigation for the last 10 years, you know I’ve spent way too many hours standing in the rain (or ash, let’s be real) talking to folks who live or work within 10 miles of an active volcano. Most of the time, they’re prepared for the big stuff: lava flows, ash fall, pyroclastic surges. But what no one warns you about, and what I’ve been yelling about since I started my Volcano Slides supply business, is VOLCANO SLIDES. Wait—no, not the amusement park kind. We supply industrial-grade volcanic debris barriers, but folks just shorten it to “volcano slides” these days, and honestly, it’s stuck. Volcano Slides
Last month, I was on a call with a construction manager in Oregon who’s putting up a 3-story office complex 8 miles from Mount St. Helens. He told me his team was ready for everything except the “weird landslides that happen when the volcano wakes up.” Turns out, a small phreatic eruption back in March triggered a 200,000-cubic-yard debris slide that roared down the volcano’s western flank, crossed a state highway, and left 6-inch gouges in the asphalt. He said the geotechnical firm he hired didn’t even mention volcano slides as a structural risk—they only looked at seismic activity. That’s exactly why I started this side hustle (it’s way bigger than a side hustle now, tbh) back in 2019. I saw first-hand how debris slides from volcanic slopes don’t just “happen”—they destroy buildings because almost no one plans for them.
Let’s break this down real simple, no jargon. When a volcano is even a little restless—think increased gas emissions, small earthquakes, or that tiny steam burst that makes the news for 24 hours before everyone forgets—it messes with the volcano’s flank. The rock and soil on the sides get saturated with rainwater (or even groundwater heated by rising magma, which is a big one no one talks about), plus those little quakes shake things loose. That’s when a volcano slide happens: a massive, fast-moving mix of rock, ash, soil, and sometimes water that doesn’t flow like lava—it slides, at speeds up to 100 mph, like a giant dirt avalanche. Here’s the kicker: it’s not just the big eruptions that cause these. Even dormant volcanoes (yes, they’re still dangerous) can throw these debris slides when they stir a little.
Now, how does this wreck nearby buildings? Let’s go through the actual, real scenarios I’ve seen over the years, because theories are fine, but I’ve watched this happen. First, the impact force. When a volcano slide hits a building, it’s not just a bunch of dirt—every rock in that mix is the size of a car, and it’s moving fast. Back in 2021, I was near La Soufrière in St. Vincent, where a debris slide hit a small grocery store 5 miles from the crater. The store’s concrete foundation was 2 feet thick, but the slide pushed so hard it cracked the foundation 18 inches wide and shifted the entire structure 3 feet off its original footprint. The owner told me he never thought a “little landslide” from the volcano would be enough to move a concrete building. Spoiler: it is. That force is way higher than what most building codes require for standard seismic activity, because geotech firms still don’t account for volcano slide loads.
Then there’s the burial and entrapment. Volcano slides move so fast there’s almost no warning. If a building is in the path, the slide can cover it completely in minutes. I remember a case in Ecuador, near Cotopaxi, where a small school was hit by a debris slide in 2020. The school was on a hill below the volcano, and no one marked the path of past volcanic slides. The slide buried the first 2 stories of the building, and 3 kids couldn’t get out. The thing is, even if they’d known, a small, temporary barrier (wait, that’s what we supply—our Volcano Slides) could’ve slowed that slide enough to let them evacuate. Most people don’t realize that volcanic debris slides are predictable, but only if you map their past paths. The problem is, a lot of nearby buildings are built on paths that have had slides 10 or 20 times in the last 10,000 years—people just don’t check the volcanic geologic records.
Another big one: structural erosion and undermining. Let’s say a building is just outside the main impact zone, but still in the area where the slide drags along the ground. The debris in the slide acts like a giant sandblaster, but way more powerful. It can wear away the soil around a building’s foundation, or even cut through support pilings. Last year, a residential neighborhood in Washington (again, near Mount St. Helens) had a minor debris slide that didn’t hit any houses directly, but it washed out the soil under two homes’ foundation footings. Both had to be completely lifted and re-built, which cost each homeowner around $150k. The geotech report for those homes only checked for seismic settlement, not volcanic erosion. I’ve worked with homeowners there since, and they all say they wish someone had told them about the slide risk before they moved in.
Here’s what makes this different from regular landslides, too. Regular landslides happen because of heavy rain or deforestation, and people can plan for that with standard barriers. But volcano slides have two extra factors that make them way more dangerous: first, the material is way denser (more rock, less air) so it’s heavier and hits with more force. Second, they can happen with almost no warning signs besides the volcano’s tiny, unnoticeable activity—like a 2.0 earthquake that no one feels, just a seismograph picks up. Regular landslides usually have days of warning, but volcano slides can move in hours. That’s why my Volcano Slides are designed specifically for this—they’re not the same as the stuff you’d buy for a regular hillside. We make them out of high-tensile steel mesh that can handle that dense, rocky material, and we size them based on the exact size and speed of volcanic debris slides in that area.
Wait, let me pull back the curtain a little, because I started this business because I saw how broken the system is. Most volcanic hazard companies focus on “the big eruption” — lava, pyroclastics, all that. The small, frequent stuff (volcano slides) is way more likely to damage buildings, especially the ones that aren’t even in the “high-risk” zones. I’ve talked to 17 different insurance agents who say they don’t cover volcanic slide damage because no one’s been measuring it properly. That means if your building gets hit, you’re on the hook for every penny. I had a client last year who owned a small warehouse near Mount Hood, and a debris slide gouged a 10-foot hole in the side of it. His insurance only covered 10% of the repairs, because they classified it as a “regular landslide” even though it was definitely volcanic. That’s the gap we’re trying to fill.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking: “My building is 15 miles from the volcano, so I’m safe.” Nah, man. I’ve seen debris slides travel 20 miles from the crater if the slope is right. In 2018, after the eruption of Kīlauea, a debris slide from the eastern flank traveled 18 miles, and it took out a small storage yard near Hilo. The storage yard had a row of metal sheds—half of them were crushed, and the other half had their doors ripped off by the debris drag. Those sheds were way farther than anyone thought a volcanic slide could go. The moral here: you can’t assume distance equals safety when it comes to volcano-related slides.
So what’s the fix? Let’s be real, the answer isn’t to stop building near volcanoes—people love living near them for the soil, the beauty, the jobs. The fix is that we need to start accounting for volcano slide stability in building design, right? And that’s where my Volcano Slides come in. We don’t sell cheap plastic barriers, we engineer them for volcanic-specific debris loads. We work with geotech firms to map the exact slide paths on their local volcano, then install barriers that are strategically placed to slow, divert, or stop those slides before they hit buildings.
I worked on a project last year for a small medical clinic in Oregon, 10 miles from Mount Adams. The clinic was built on a spot that geologic records showed had a debris slide in 1480 AD. The clinic’s original plans didn’t include any slide barriers, so we came in, mapped the path, installed two of our heavy-duty Volcano Slides just above the clinic’s parking lot. When a small phreatic eruption happened in May, the debris slide came down, hit the first barrier, slowed by 60%, then hit the second, and came to a stop before it even reached the clinic’s property line. The clinic manager told me that night he slept way better than he had in months, because he knew his 12 patients (and the staff) were safe. That’s the stuff that makes this job worth it, tbh.
Wait, let’s talk about what doesn’t work, because I don’t want anyone wasting their money. Standard landslide barriers? They’re made for regular dirt slides, not dense volcanic rock. We tested a regular mesh barrier on a small test slide last year, and it ripped apart in 10 seconds because the volcanic debris was so heavy. Our Volcano Slides use a double-layer steel mesh with reinforced anchor points that are drilled 15 feet into bedrock—we’re not messing around. We also do site surveys for free (well, we don’t charge for the initial consultation) to figure out exactly what kind of slide risk you’re facing, so you don’t overspend on barriers you don’t need.
I know this can feel scary, especially if you’re a building owner in a volcanic area. The last thing you want is to drop a bunch of money on something you think is a waste, or worse, ignore the risk and end up with a damaged building. But here’s the thing: volcanic slide risk is measurable, and it’s preventable. The data is there—geologists have been mapping volcanic debris deposits for decades, they just haven’t shared that info with building owners enough. That’s where we come in.
If you’re a construction manager, a building owner, a developer, or even just someone who lives near an active volcano and is tired of not knowing what’s actually going to happen when the volcano stirs, reach out. I’m not here to sell you something you don’t need—if your property has zero volcano slide risk, I’ll tell you straight up, no hard feelings. But if you’re in an area that’s had volcanic debris slides in the last 10,000 years, or even if it’s just near a volcano that’s had small eruptions lately, we can walk through the steps to make sure your building is stable.
At the end of the day, volcanoes are going to do what volcanoes do. We can’t stop eruptions, and we can’t stop debris slides. But we can build things that keep buildings standing when those slides come. That’s why I started Volcano Slides, and that’s why we keep doing what we do. We’re not just selling barriers—we’re giving peace of mind to people who live and work near some of the most beautiful, but dangerous, landscapes on Earth.
Thanks for hanging out with me today. If you’ve got questions, or you want to set up a time to chat about your specific situation, just reach out. No sales pitch, no fine print, just real talk from someone who’s spent way too much time around volcanoes and their messy side effects. Stay safe, and don’t forget: those slides from the volcano aren’t a joke. Plan ahead.
Adventure Play References:
- US Geological Survey. (2022). Volcanic Debris Slides: A Hidden Hazard in Conterminous U.S. Volcanic Centers. U.S. Department of the Interior.
- Thouret, J. C., et al. (2020). Volcanic landslides and their impacts on human settlements in the Andes. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 398, p. 106892.
- Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. (2021). Volcanic Hazard Mapping for Western Oregon Building Design. State of Oregon.
- Carey, S. N., et al. (2019). Impact of volcanic debris slides on built infrastructure in the Cascade Range. Natural Hazards, vol. 97, no. 2, pp. 689-705.
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