MAY 18 MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOUNT ST. HELENS' BLAST

MAY 18 MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOUNT ST. HELENS' BLAST

TOLEDO, Wash. (Wireless Flash) -- Next Thursday marks an explosive anniversary: it's the 20th anniversary of the day Mount St. Helens blew its stack. On May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m., the volcano blew its top -- shooting 1.5 cubic miles of rock and ash 12 miles into the air. One eyewitness is 82-year-old Ray Wallace, of Toledo, Washington, who was 26 miles from the mountain when it blew. Wallace says the 3000-degree blast of heat from the volcano actually blew open cans of pork and beans left behind by campers. These days, you can't tell there was ever a blast, but Wallace still hates the volcano for killing off all the deer and causing water in nearby lakes to boil fish alive.