HEROES

                        Courage Under Fire

                                 Maurice and Krafft spent more than 20 years racing to the scene of exploding volcanoes. their tools were cameras as well as maps and rock hammers; the kraffts were film-makers and photographers as well as scientists. Their film and pictures are unforgettable,showing volcanoes up so close you can almost feel the heat and smell the sulfur.

                                           The kraffts wanted to show the dangers of eruptions so vividly that people would know what to expect and could be prepared. They knew such knowledge could save lives. take ruiz,an active volcano in colombia that erupted in 1985. A mudslide triggered by the volcano's melted ice cap roared through a river valley,killing more than 23,000 people. They all could have been saved simply by moving to higher ground, but local authorities didn't take scientists warnings seriously.

                                           To get the most powerful images, the kraffts often put themselves at risk. They scampered along crumbling lava shelves hot enough to melt their shoes. They rowed a boat around a lake full of sulfuric acid concentrated enough to dissolve a human. They were lucky that time-they only lost the top layers of flesh off their fingers.

                                           But Maurice and Katia's luck ran out one day in june 1991. While in japan filming the eruption OF Mt. Unzen, they got caught in a poisonous, glowing cloud of hot ash and gas. Along with 35 other people on the volcano, they perished. But they left behind a priceless legacy for volcanology:two million feet of film, 20 tons of volcanic artifacts, hundreds of thousands of photographs. And now others are pursuing their goals of serving science and saving lives.

                                           Steve and Donna O'Meara of volcano,Hawaii, are not professional volcanologists. But they are experts in the field. they've visited 70 eruptions, photographing, observing, and most of all, trying to help people in harm's way and make them aware of the seriousness of their situation. In arenal, CosTA rica, the O"Mearas were appalled to find a local hotel giving out maps to the site of the eruption, even while boulder-sized lava blocks rolled down the slopes. "On the road up the mountain,we passed a father and a child, trying to read the map," Steve recalls. "luckily, i got them to turn back."

                                           It's not easy to make people turn back. Many whose homes are near volcanoes farm for a living, since volcanic soil is fertile. Leaving their homes for very long could mean starvation. But with world populations growing, more and more people will be living on the edge of disaster. Areas around certain volcanoes, such as Mount Vesuvius in Italy, are crowded with houses. Learning to predict eruptions more accurately is critical.

                                        Just a few miles from the O'Mearas'home, at Kilauea, research on volcano prediction has been going on for some time. Scientists at the Hawaiian volcano observatory there are studying Kilauea, the most active volcano on the planet, to help perfect a system that will tell them if the ground beneath the volcano is swelling with magma-an early sign that a blow-up is going to happen. The system uses receivers connected to the satellite Global positioning system.

                                         The system may be operational soon. Meanwhile, Steve and Donna O'Meara cherish the beauty and excitement of living near Kilauea. "There's always something happening," says Donna. "Steam is hissing out,and there are earthquakes almost ever day-two-hundred-foot lava fountains are common. Sometimeswe hold our breath, but we feel alive in their presence."