Europe Wildfires Detonate 200-Ton Wartime Munitions Risk as Heat Exposes Buried WWI, WWII Bombs
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 22
Europe Wildfires Detonate 200-Ton Wartime Munitions Risk as Heat Exposes Buried WWI, WWII Bombs
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 22
Summary
Blasts have been reported in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands as this summer’s wildfires ignite or uncover buried World War I and II bombs and mines, creating a new hazard for crews fighting the flames.
Climate-driven heat, drought, low humidity and wind turned heavy vegetation growth from January rains into tinder, while fires stripped away brush that had kept old munitions buried and dormant.
Belgium’s High Fens fire is smoldering over former battlefields near Elsenborn Ridge and the Hurtgen Forest, where officials reported sporadic detonations and emergency services adjusted operations around known wartime explosives.
Belgium already handles more than 3,000 explosive-disposal calls a year and destroys 200 to 250 tons of leftover munitions, while western farmers still describe annual plowing as an 'iron harvest.'
Drought is widening the risk beyond fire zones: falling water levels recently exposed naval mines in Slovakia and World War II bombs in Budapest and along Germany’s Rhine.