Anchorage Daily News from Anchorage, Alaska • 11

it a Governor's office gets a lift B-2 The readers respond 8-11 and METRO 20, 1992 ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS SECTION Preliminary estimates by the Alaska Volcano Observatory suggest that Tuesday's eruption was more intense than the June 27 blast, which spewed more than 50 million cubic meters of ash. That's more than 5 million dump truck loads. One of the eight seismic stations in place around Mount Spurr and Crater Peak was disabled Tuesday. Three others were disabled in the June 27 eruption. The statione Mount Spurr transmit their data by radio to the 11,070 feet Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Ice-covered caldera Crater Peak 7,575 feet Open vent Present since the June 27 eruption. Volcanic material Consists of different densities of rock and ash in the conduit beneath the caldera, restricting the release Pyroclastic rock avalanche of pressure growing in the magma formed chamber below. Rocks by the accumulation of fragmented materials thrown out by volcanic explosions (pyrociastic Hot gas means fire-broken). All volcanic eruptions result from the release of gas that has been confined under pressure. What Happened Inside Crater Peak 11 During the June 27 eruption, large amounts of volcanic material ash and rocks refill the conduit that leads from the magma chamber to the surface, where there is a small open vent.

Pressure from the expanding gases below increases, At 4:41 p.m. Tuesday, the pressure becomes too Magma Chamber great and a major eruption occurs, clearing the condult of rocks and ash. The explosion pulverizes some rock, creating more ash. The explosion sends ash up to 60,000 feet in the air. An avalanche of hot rocks and ash cascade down the southeast lace of Crater Peak.

More than 170 lightning strikes are detected. Early reports indicate the explosion did not change 4 opened Spur What makes Mount Spurr so different? Eruptions hard to predict; experts hope ash tells why By TOM KIZZIA eruption is beginning to Daily News reporter provide clues to what Scientists who began makes Spurr different from poking at the stuff under- other volcanoes and may foot in Anchorage Wednes- help explain why it is provday were finding that it ing more difficult to predict was not like other volcanic eruptions there. ash that has fallen over the The depth of the ash in region over the past decade. Anchorage also is helping That's because its source, scientists gauge how powerMount Spurr, isn't like oth- ful Spurr's eruptions have er Cook Inlet volcanoes. been.

The ash that blew out of Volcanologists measure Mount Spurr Tuesday may the thickness of ashfall and be slightly less irritating to the extent of the ash plume the lungs than ash from the to estimate the volume of other volcanoes that have material thrown out in an dusted southcentral Alaska. eruption. That measureMount Spurr's ash tended ment is combined with the to form in tiny glass balls eruption's duration and the rather than in the jagged height of its plume to deterglass shards of Mount Re- mine its "volcano explosividoubt's volcanic ash, ac- ty index," a rough version cording to Don Richter, a comparable to the Richter geologist for the U.S. Geo- scale used to measure earthlogical Survey who ana- quakes. lyzed Tuesday's fallout.

No ranking has been The tiny spheres adhered made of Tuesday's erupto mineral crystals in the tion, but scientists said it volcano's plume and grew was similar to the June like hailstones until they eruption, which sent an esfell as ash, Richter said. timated 50 million cubic "If you backed me up meters of ash north from against a wall and forced Spurr, according to Steve me to breathe one or the McNutt, acting coordinating other, I guess I'd choose ash scientist for the Alaska Volfrom said Sam cano Observatory in Fair- worked alone to wet the shape of the caldera. Swanson, head of the geolo- banks. dust, but the task was ham- volcanologists say Tuesday's blast was slightly gy department at the Uni- Spurr's June eruption pered by sunshine and more Intense than Mount Spurr's June 27 eruption. versity of Alaska Fair- ranked as a 3 on the exploing the afternoon.

by lighter gray ash. to breathe any ash at all." The individual pulses of Rewinds that kicked up dur- Tan sandlike particles dropped first Tuesday, followed banks. "But it's better not sivity index, McNutt said. "It's very frustrating," More important to scien- doubt's prolonged 1989 and said Lowell Humphrey, re- tists, their study of the ash Sources: Alaska Volcano Observatory, Anchorage Daily News research RON ENGSTROM Anchorage Daily News Anchorage and the fall- Please gional director for the De- in partment of Transportation. out from Spurr's June 27 see Page ERUPTION B-3, "You do a lot of work to move a little bit of material." A good rain said, would but help, the 2 cities acted quickly after St.

Helens blast Humphrey forecast doesn't look prom- By NATALIE PHILLIPS ising. Daily News reporter dealing with, and how were they ing and sent an ash cloud around Everett Mabry, the city's going to clean up the mess? the world. The fallout varied in street maintenance manag- Within hours after the powdery On the health issue, they took amounts and textures along a wide er, said the work is slow to settle on Spokane, and "We path under the Montana. Washington, Idaho and 6 We realized it was too ash from Mount St. Helens began the of caution.

swath of because the ash is both were operating more abundant and heavier Missoula, more than a de- worst -case scenario until we knew About 80 miles east of the moun- much for our sweepers. than regular street grime. cade ago, health and public works what we were dealing with," said tain, Yakima, was blanofficials had an emergency com- Joe Aldegarie, who was the head of keted with an inch of coarse ash. city were So residents During three-week the city's mand post set up, businesses shut Missoula's city and county environ- Yakima County's emergency ser- asked to help out. annual spring sweep, 9 the sweepers go about a down and speed limits were re- mental health department at the vices did nothing.

The director was mile before they need to be duced to between 10 and 20 mph. time. out fishing that day and was fired dumped, he said. Wednes- Both cities slowed to a halt for When Mount St. Helens in within the year, according to re- Joe Aldegarie, day, some sweepers had to at least four days while officials southern Washington blew on May ports by the Seattle Post-Intelli- former head of Environmental Health, wrestled with two questions: What 18, 1980, it leveled 230 square B-3, CLEAN kind of health threat were they miles, left 57 people dead or miss- Please see Page B-3, ST.

HELENS Missoula, Mont. Please see Page Work of wonder just another part of Alaska routine They didn't have the air filter I needed River, it was business as usual and that birch leaves, as if smoke had turned to Wednesday, So I bought a pair of panty FRANK GERJEVIC seemed unusual. Workers cleaned floors, powder and settled for a stay, A chickadee hose. For the car. stocked shelves.

Dave, who works the landed on a slender limb, kicking a small My neighbor called late Wednesday of the world, we played ball. When the sky night shift, and I talked for a few minutes puff of ash out and down. That's one of the morning and said that nylons work well as fell, we called the game. at the checkout counter about his real-es- ways it'll get cleaned up. air-filter boosters.

Keep some of the fine Yet it seemed a little flippant to field tate work. Neither of us mentioned the ash No spectacular sky was left Wednesday. fallout of Mount Spurr from fouling engine grounders while an unnatural gloom over- or the surgical mask I'd pulled down to my Now we've got the scouring of dull, abrarings. So in 12 hours I had two firsts. I'd took the eastern light.

Once the game was neck when I walked in the store. Ashfall? sive clouds and what's left of the smell of never hosed volcano dust off my car before called, the retreat was fast. Headlights Carry on. See you later. fires stoked below the earth.

A worker at and I'd never bought panty hose. went on. A cyclist hunkered over his Wonder and routine. Walking to the car Pay'n Save says he'll have more air filters Spurr's work was a wonder Tuesday handlebars, bandanna around his mouth with a few groceries I made light tracks in tonight; a few people wear face masks. A night.

The western sky went thunderstorm and nose, head down to shield his eyes. The the fallout. Ash blurred the moon. car shop is offering Mount Spurr specials dark from the heavens to the deck and tiny grains fell fast; minutes after the Despite the reassurance of routine, I was for filters and oil. And there's bound to be slowly took over the town.

Gulls and ashfall started, cars stirred clouds of ash in glad to see a lighter sky around 5 a.m., a use in all this for duct tape. softballs gleamed aloft against the deep their wakes. Wonder in the sky turned to unnatural darkness having passed along It's a mess so there's a lot of work to do. gray wall. At Cartee fields they actually murk and grit on the ground.

It was a little with the natural night. It's worth it for the wonder. But Spurr can played softball, going an inning into the like watching the northern lights on a late In Chugiak the ash isn't as thick as it is gO back to sleep now. ashfall before giving It up. Alaskans sur- March night only to slog through breakup in the city but it's there.

Later Wednesday render summer grudgingly, even to a volca- in the morning. morning some sun broke through the Frank is looked like the end About 1:30 a.m., at the Carrs in Eagle clouds and ash, showing the coating on Gerjevic a Daily News copy editor. no. When the sky just Coroner's jury rules on hostage-taker's bombing death: Suicide By GAIL RANDALL blast injuries. and two children who lived suicide, homicide or acci- Phil Brown said that after bomb in one hand and a gun Daily News reporter Anchorage Coroner Char- in the house, the 40-year-old dent? Did he die of bullet Duncan was first shot, he in the other.

A coroner's jury decided lene Doris said she called auto-body repairman tried wounds or blast injuries? saw him "doing something "He said I was the cause Wednesday that a man who the inquest to settle ques- to escape with the only hos- Did he set off the bomb with his hands, a plunger- of all his problems," McGurdied in March after a five- tions surrounding Conn tage left: Bob Lydy. But as himself, or did police snipers like movement." ren said. "He wasn't right in hour standoff with police, Wayne Duncan's fiery death the two men climbed into a set it off? "I assumed he was trying the end." set off the bomb that killed March 25. pickup, members of the An- During more than three to set the bomb off," Brown Hostage Lydy recalled for him not stray bullets from On that day, an angry chorage Police Department hours of testimony, the jury said. jurors how he woke up to police sniper fire.

Duncan used a handgun to special weapons team heard from pathologist Mi- Duncan's former girl- the sounds of McGurren think it was very clear awaken his former girl- opened fire on Duncan. Lydy chael Propst, who said an friend, Elizabeth McGurren, ing out: "Help me!" and he detonated the bomb him- friend as she slept on the bolted for safety. Duncan autopsy of Duncan's splint- told jurors that she lived in found Duncan in the living self," said jury foreman sofa at her friends' Chuglak injured and flailing blew ered remains indicated that fear of Duncan after she room holding what looked Richard Nist, an Anchorage home where she had gone to up in a flash of fire. he died of massive blast broke off their relationship like a couple of sticks of obstetrician. "It was sui- escape her violent boyfriend.

At the inquest Wednes- injuries and that Duncan's in February. She said he dynamite packed in cotton. cide." She managed to escape, day, the jury was asked to heart was still beating at the often talked of killing him- The bundle was tied to DunThe jury also decided that which infuriated Duncan. decide the cause and manner time of the explosion. self.

On March 25, she said, the man died as a result of After releasing a mother of Duncan's death. Was it Anchorage police Officer Duncan taunted her with Please see Page B-3, B-12 THURSDAY, August Clean sweep starts Municipality sets water-use record By LIZ RUSKIN Daily News reporter Anchorage set a record for water use Wednesday as the city began to rinse Mount Spurr ash from roads, driveways, cars and lawns. With seven water trucks and five street sweepers, the municipality plans to clean roads around the clock. Mayor Tom Fink said the city hopes to have the arterials clean by this morning, but it may take 10 days to clean smaller neighborhood streets. Jack Klingbell, Anchorage station manager for the state Department of Transportation, said he didn't know how long it will take to clean state highways and roads in the Anchorage Bowl.

"There's people telling me five days," he said. "If I could do it in five days I'd be a miracle worker." The state has eight water trucks and five street sweepers on the job. In some places, workers are using water trucks, snow plows and street sweepers to wash the traffic lanes and shoulders. Some water trucks.