The show opens with a shot of Mount St. Helens, about 100 miles south of Seattle, Washington. The volcano no longer looks this way after it violently erupted May 18, 1980, its first significant eruption in over 100 years. It was the deadliest volcanic event in U.S. history as 57 people were killed. The mountain lost over 1300 feet of elevation and now shows a mile-wide horseshoe-shaped crater instead of the "scenic grandeur" shown in the film.