Hear something go boom?
Explosives contractors working for the Department of National Defence have found two more unexploded bombs on the Blair Rifle Range lands and called in the military to detonate them.
Unexploded ordnance or UXO teams have been working to clear the former military training site between the Blueridge neighbourhood and Northlands Golf Course on and off since 2018.
On Sept. 26, contractors unearthed an Mk36 grenade.
“DND’s military ordnance disposal team was contacted to handle the safe disposal of the item and to ensure public safety,” a statement from National Defence read. “Once the military disposal team arrives on-site, they assess whether the item is safe to move and can be taken off-site for disposal or if it is unstable, in which case a controlled on-site detonation is the safest method.”
That was the fifth time since the search began in 2018 that an item had to be detonated. The explosives disposal experts were back again on Wednesday after crews found a three-inch mortar shell with high explosives inside a day earlier.
Nearby resident Darren Broder was startled by the blast early Thursday morning.
“I thought, OK, what the hell was that?” he said. “It sounded like thunder but abbreviated. It was loud like a gunshot.”
Once he determined no one was in danger and everything in the house was fine, Broder logged onto a local Reddit page online and learned that it was DND’s crews at work.
The area is very popular with hikers and mountain bikers, Broder said. Everyone in the neighbourhood knows some of the history of the lands, but the thought of bombs remaining buried in the soil is never usually top of mind.
“But I guess with the with them finding unexploded ordnances, it becomes more real,” he said.
UXO contractors with metal detectors have picked up more than 400 kilograms of munition remnants from the area, including mortar shells, grenade components, practice rounds and paraflares.
Anyone who spots a potential UXO is advised to not touch it, immediately leave the area the way they came in and call 911. Although unlikely to go off on their own, it is possible if they are disturbed and the mortar shells are designed to be lethal within 10 metres, according to the government.
Because of that risk, no one should be digging or starting fires anywhere on the Blair Rifle Range lands.
The current sweep for explosives is scheduled to last until March 2025, with the team focusing their search on the areas south of Larkhall Crescent and east of Dresden Way. That will require rotating trail closures to keep the public back and allow them to safely do their work.
“DND would like to thank the community for their ongoing patience,” the statement read.
