EOD Responds to Alaskan Wildlife Refuge

Cold Bay, Alaska Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson EOD traveled to Cold Bay, near the western end of the Alaska Peninsula, after a local hunter reported what appeared to be a large, unexploded artillery shell. The ordnance was discovered in the federally protected Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a key habitat for many migratory birds and other wildlife.

According to U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Tyrone Powell, the EOD team leader confirmed that the find was an unexploded military round. Powell said, "It's big artillery. When we pulled it out of the ground, it weighed probably six or seven hundred pounds. It took four of us to pull it out."

The shell measured approximately 12 inches in diameter by 4 feet long. Powell noted that the round was first manufactured during WWII but could have been built anytime up to the 1990s.

"What was interesting about the round, it was actually split open, so there was no more explosive on the inside. It had to have been underneath the ground for a pretty long time for that to happen," Powell said.

"It looks like it used to be a demolition area for old ordnance," he continued. "What we think it was, was one of these old pieces of ordnance got kicked out of where it was getting blown up. Those sorts of things get buried in the soil, and eventually, they work their way to the surface."

EOD left the munition in place and safely disposed of it with explosives. Caution was taken to monitor wildlife in the area for effects from the noise. Representatives from the refuge said they monitored the birds on nearby lakes before the detonation and that they were still there afterward with little reaction.