Alaska volcano shoots ash 15,000 feet

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — One of Alaska’s most restless volcanoes has shot an ash cloud 15,000 feet into the air in an ongoing eruption that has drawn attention from a nearby community but isn’t expected to threaten air traffic.

An air traffic controller in the region says small planes have flown around the plume from Pavlof Volcano. Ash would have to rise tens of thousands of feet to threaten larger planes.

The eruption began Monday, and a photograph shows lava spraying out.

Air traffic controller John Maxwell says residents in the small community of Cold Bay, about 40 miles from Pavlof, are concerned that ash could damage their power generators. But he says wind has blown the ash away from the area.

Pavlof is 625 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Aleutian arc.