PAHOA, Hawaii » The front of a lava flow threatening Pahoa Town made no headway Wednesday while nervous Puna residents continued to sell off belongings and make plans to evacuate.

"Thanks goodness the flow seems to have settled down," said Hawaii County spokesman Kevin Dayton.

The front of the flow remained about 1.5 miles from Apaa Street and about 2.1 miles from Pahoa Village Road, Dayton said. But a so-called "breakout" of lava about three-quarters of a mile behind the front of the flow "seems a bit more active, at least for the last day or so," he said.

County road crews continued work that began on Tuesday to create a third evacuation route out of Puna along Chain of Craters Road, which has been repeatedly covered in lava over the years and needs to be rebuilt.

The reconstruction of nearly nine miles of the 19-mile-long Chain of Craters Road involves county, state and federal portions of land that will offer Puna residents an exit through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

At the same time, county and state road crews on Wednesday continued restoring two other emergency routes — Railroad Avenue and Beach Road/ Government Road — that would be pressed into service only if lava overruns the main lifeline into lower Puna, Highway 130.

But some worried residents are not waiting for the lava to arrive.

Garage sales are popping up all over lower Puna, where Bryan Booth and his wife, Kathleen, live in Paradise Park.

At his Hilo antiques store, Booth has seen a 20 percent increase in people from Puna who want to sell him their bulky furniture and antiques such as a Louis XV-style, 19th-century walnut server.

"In several cases I’ve gotten calls from people who are moving out," Booth said. "There’s a sense of desperation in the air."

On the other end of his business, Booth normally sells about 30 percent of his inventory to Puna residents, "but we haven’t sold a piece since the scare," he said, adding, "It’s way off. I’ve definitely noticed a down-surge in purchases."

However, sales to nonresidents have never been better in the seven years that Booth has run his antique store and restoration business.

"When it comes to handling these difficult choices, thankfully we’re in a position to help during a difficult time," he said.

Although Booth is in the same position as his nervous neighbors, he and Kathleen and their 16-year-old son plan to stay put.

"If lava takes the house we’ll do something else," Booth said.

Even if lava spares the Booth home, they expect to see 7,000 more vehicles cutting through their neighborhood to get to Railroad Avenue. And they expect their typical 30- to 40-minute commute to Hilo to take at least two hours because of all of the increased traffic traveling over an emergency road.

Darryl Oliveira, head of Hawaii County Civil Defense, said Wednesday that county officials have heard anecdotal reports about people heading into Puna to get a glimpse of the lava flow.

But none has been spotted during overflights tracking the lava and no incidents have been reported, he said.

"It’s very dangerous and people are advised to avoid the area," Oliveira said.

There’s also talk in the community about organizing private small boat owners to ferry stranded Puna residents out. But Oliveira said rough waters off Isaac Hale Beach Park would make such an operation difficult.