05/11/2020 Germania, Renania Settentrionale-Vestfalia, Düsseldorf
“If you ever come across anything suspicious like this item, please do not pick it up, contact your local law enforcement agency for assistance”
The First Head Assistant of Düsseldorf Fire Brigade, Mr. Ulrich Cimolino, has spoken up again on the danger of war remnants in Germany. This article is about unexploded grenades inside trees, which could detonate if contained in firewood:
“Unexploded remnants of war represent a serious problem in summer fires. In fact, grenades into tree trunks, buried or partially visible bombs, explode several times during extinguishing fire operations, posing risks for my collegues. Like in Italy, German woodland areas are full of plane bombs, grenades, mines and other war remnants. I would like to remind readers that the bombs hidden into trees have already caused serious emergencies and injured more people. In 2010, a resident of Bielefeld put a firewood into the fireplace, not guessing that an anti-aircraft grenade was hidden inside. The bomb exploded and made two people injured, leaving part of house destroyed. In 2014, in the municipality of Hoyerhagen (Lower Saxony), a resident cut down a tree on his property to get firewood. Afterwards he lighted the fireplace using a piece wood, unaware it contained a granades. The heat of the flames caused a detonation of device, which destroyed the room. In the same year, in Gmunden (Austria), on January 1st, a 22-year-old man lighted his fireplace using wood bought two month earlier in a local hardware store. Same story: a piece of wood contained a remnant that exploded. Despite it didn’t injured people, it caused considerable damage to the home. In my opinion this is a European problem that should not be underestimated. In Germany, former East Germany, the territory of Hürtgenwald and the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia are the Lander to be de-mined as soon as possibile, without neglecting other Länder, that can be represent a red code. In Germany, especially former East Germany (e.g. Battle of Oder, Battle around Berlin), but also in other parts of the territory e.g. Hürtgenwald (nearby Aachen) and wide parts of North Rhine-Westphalia (Battle of Ruhr) and also a lot of amunition production sites, storages or transport areas, who were blown up in a unsafe way after the war, should to be de-mined as soon as possibile. Traduzione Sara Gorelli
