Salvo, North Carolina A practice sea mine washed up at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The mine was found by National Park Service rangers who secured the mine and called the Navy to respond. An EOD team from Norfolk responded and transported the mine for proper disposal. EOD confirmed that the mine did not contain any explosives.
Upcoming charity event - EOD Warrior Foundation Polar Bear Plunge.
Location: Lake Anna State Park, 6800 Lawyers Rd. Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA 22551
Date / Time: February 9, 2019, 0800
Benefiting the EOD Warrior Foundation and celebrating EOD Techs and their families.
Registration now is open!!! CLICK HERE
Black Friday & Cyber Monday may be over but you can still take advantage of the $5 off special from the normal registration price of $30. Hurry - offer expires December 1.
To take advantage of this sale, enter the code POLAR5 on the right hand side of the checkout screen prior to submitting payment.
Register as an individual or gather up your friends and register as a team!
Corporate sponsorship opportunities are also available. For more information, please contact Chuck Schaaf (540-630-1772)
EOD Warrior Foundation
701 John Sims Pkwy E, Ste 305
Niceville, FL 32578
850.729.2336
info@eodwarriorfoundation.org
Boise, Idaho Two UXO items were found during construction under Idaho Highway 45 bridge over the Snake River, according to the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD). The first device was found on October 31 when divers were inspecting the base of the bridge pier underwater. The contractor notified the Canyon County Sheriff's Office, which contacted a bomb squad from the Nampa Police Department to retrieve the explosive device.
Hyde Park, United Kingdom A WWII era mortar round found in Hyde Park's Serpentine Lake caused one of London's busiest parks to be temporarily evacuated. The ordnance was reportedly partially submerged was eventually identified an inert WWII era training round. Bomb disposal personnel searched portions of the Lake near the find to ensure no other ordnance was in the area.
Te Puke, New Zealand A construction crew working on a residential construction project halted operations after finding a munition item. They called the police who responded and evacuated several nearby homes. The police contacted the New Zealand Defence Force bomb squad based in Auckland for technical assistance.
Washington, DC The USACE quietly and without coordination with industry released an update to EM 200-1-015, Technical Guidance For Military Munitions Response Actions. The changes to the Engineer Manual primarily include the addition of quality processes involving geophysical systems which "are required to provide defensible data that can support environmental decisions when characterizing munitions response sites and when making risk management decisions involving MEC." The changes also attempt to minimize performance deficiencies known to exist in products from analog geophysical methods such that they are not precluded from consideration in environmental risk management decisions.
The updated EM 200-1-015 dated October 30, 2018 can be downloaded from UXOInfo.com.
Kiev, Ukraine The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, approved the first draft of a law on UXO and landmine clearance. The Bill which was approved by 240 lawmakers, is designed to provide a legal basis for demining and UXO clearance activities, included those actions carried out by humanitarian demining organizations.
The bill reads in part, "Although Russia's war against Ukraine has been going on for nearly five years, the lack of a legal framework still prevents the systematic landmine clearance in embattled areas along the 400-kilometer frontline."
The Bill estimates that approximately 22,000 square kilometers of controlled and uncontrolled territories are contaminated with landmines and/or UXO with the border between Russian-occupied Crimea also mined.
The draft bill aims to develop a universal national database of UXO and detonation incidents and obligates the Cabinet of Ministers to organize a special national agency that is meant to control and coordinate all minesweeping activities in the country. The Bill also issues accreditations valid for up to 5 years to mine clearance operators willing to work in Donbas.
Northeast Syria A civilian British Bomb Disposal expert working under a U. S. State Department program clearing UXO and IEDs was killed by an accidental IED explosion. The bomb disposal technician was working for Tetra Tech under a grant through the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) at the time of the accident.
The 41-year old bomb disposal expert, Chris Harris of Hockley, Essex, was a former British Army EOD specialist who served nearly 20 years in EOD as part of the Royal Engineers. Previous tours while on active duty included Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan before leaving the military in 2014.
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