Skip to main contentThe strong scent of gasoline permeates otherwise clean, crisp mountain air at the Castle Lake scenic viewpoint, only a few miles away from the smoldering dome of Mount St. Helens. The smell wafts from the many gasoline generators powering 20 or so mobile satellite trucks and RVs from around the Northwest--a shanty town of reporters, photographers and TV crews riveted by the volcano's bursts of steam and ash.
The media frenzy touched off by St. Helens' reawakening has taken over big hunks of the mountain. At Castle Lake, a strip of yellow police tape and a "MEDIA ONLY" sign keep tourists out of the rest stop. Local TV stations, cable news networks and newspapers battle for the best shot and most vivid account of the mountain's steamy blasts. Meanwhile, the small towns around the volcano's rural skirt are loving every minute--and every stray dollar--of Saint H's rage.
Thursday afternoon, a Fox 12 news van provides a temporary home to a three-man crew from the Portland station. They've been there since noon after taking over for another crew, and they plan on staying until evening and returning at 4 am the next day.
"We're the safety net," says cameraman Josh Miller. "If the mountain does blow, we're the crew to cover it."
With Vulcan silent for the moment, the Fox team is more worried about its jousts with rival journalists. Engineer David Flanigan set up a camera on a prime shooting spot and returned to the van for more equipment. When he came back, he found a CNN crew had evicted his equipment and claimed the prized territory as their own.
"I was ready to cut some cables," Flanigan says. He adds that Northwest TV crews usually get along, leaving the spats to the national teams.
"If this was happening on the East Coast, though, you'd see fists flying," Flanigan says.
Down the mountain, the locals love St. Helens' rumblings. In any other year, October means the end of the tourist season. Visitor centers close or reduce their hours. Gift shops shut down for the season. All that changed during the past two weeks. Castle Rock, a city of 2,130 people right off of Interstate 5 and about 45 miles from Mount St. Helens, has bustled with activity.
"Lucky for us, St. Helens erupted on sunny days," says Hope Selander, a desk clerk at Timberland Inn & Suites. Selander said the hotel was packed with journalists.
Ten miles up Highway 504, in Toutle (pop. 735), the Toutle Diner is doing business at a clip owner Gabriela Hill hasn't seen in years. Tourists and media types flock to the diner, where the open-faced "Ash Burger" consists of a third-of-a-pound of beef piled with chili.
Hill herself has already wrapped an interview with USA Today's John Ritter and spotted Fox News' Geraldo Rivera at her counter. All the same, with a great story stirring up great business, she's anything but jaded.
"It's very welcomed and very exciting to see all this happening," Hill says, before bustling off to handle another busy lunch hour.
WWeek 2015