Kilauea is a typical shield volcano and Mt. St. Helens is a great example of a stratovolcano. Although both are currently active, the types of eruptions that we could expect from each mountain are quite different. Kilauea, while more active, features slow moving basaltic flows that even a person on foot could escape. The eruptions tend to be gentle and do not usually cause a great deal of damage. Mt. St. Helens, on the other hand, is much more dangerous because of it's violent eruptions accompanied by large amounts of ash, violent lava and mudflows and flying debris. As a stratovolcano it is less active but for more powerful and unpredictable.
