So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
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Update: the German army now sent two tanks to the wildfire area to create safe fire break lines in the WWII ammunition contaminated area!! Bizarre times...
#germany #wildfires #wwiiammunition #climatechange #climatecrisis
@carstenfranke This is one of their jobs too! -
So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
Size wise nothing compared to what we see here in the US, but there is a little quirk: firefighters have to be extra cautious and can't access all areas, because of WWII ammunition, mines and grenades that still are in the soil.
I remember hiking that general area with my parents in the 1980s and occasionally finding rifle rounds.
Wars have long lasting consequences. -
So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
Size wise nothing compared to what we see here in the US, but there is a little quirk: firefighters have to be extra cautious and can't access all areas, because of WWII ammunition, mines and grenades that still are in the soil.
I remember hiking that general area with my parents in the 1980s and occasionally finding rifle rounds.
Wars have long lasting consequences.look up landmine cleanup in asia. wwi and wwii left a huge amount of dangerous stuff all over EU too.
wars never have winners. sometimes they have survivors.
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look up landmine cleanup in asia. wwi and wwii left a huge amount of dangerous stuff all over EU too.
wars never have winners. sometimes they have survivors.
@paul_ipv6 yes, it is horrible, I have lived with WWII ammunition all my life in Germany. Even last year when visiting my mom there was a lockdown because they had found a WWII bomb nearby.
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So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
Size wise nothing compared to what we see here in the US, but there is a little quirk: firefighters have to be extra cautious and can't access all areas, because of WWII ammunition, mines and grenades that still are in the soil.
I remember hiking that general area with my parents in the 1980s and occasionally finding rifle rounds.
Wars have long lasting consequences.@carstenfranke I'm an American living in Aachen. The countryside around Aachen looks and feels more like southern Spain than Germany at the moment. It's hot and dry, and what's normally green is brown. I was around Julich and Geilenkirchen yesterday, and smoke from the fire is clearly visible. Firefighters couldn't get near the fire yesterday because of the ammo, so a single helicopter was working to contain it. I guess the new climate normal will demand expansion of Germany's wildfire unit.
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@carstenfranke I'm an American living in Aachen. The countryside around Aachen looks and feels more like southern Spain than Germany at the moment. It's hot and dry, and what's normally green is brown. I was around Julich and Geilenkirchen yesterday, and smoke from the fire is clearly visible. Firefighters couldn't get near the fire yesterday because of the ammo, so a single helicopter was working to contain it. I guess the new climate normal will demand expansion of Germany's wildfire unit.
@fckice @carstenfranke Holy cow. Does the old ammo get triggered by the fires?
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So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
Size wise nothing compared to what we see here in the US, but there is a little quirk: firefighters have to be extra cautious and can't access all areas, because of WWII ammunition, mines and grenades that still are in the soil.
I remember hiking that general area with my parents in the 1980s and occasionally finding rifle rounds.
Wars have long lasting consequences.@carstenfranke good god, so random explosions are possible, sending fire even further away? Yikes!
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So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
Size wise nothing compared to what we see here in the US, but there is a little quirk: firefighters have to be extra cautious and can't access all areas, because of WWII ammunition, mines and grenades that still are in the soil.
I remember hiking that general area with my parents in the 1980s and occasionally finding rifle rounds.
Wars have long lasting consequences.@carstenfranke - oh, no. That sounds awful! I'm thinking of that old song: "War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"
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So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
Size wise nothing compared to what we see here in the US, but there is a little quirk: firefighters have to be extra cautious and can't access all areas, because of WWII ammunition, mines and grenades that still are in the soil.
I remember hiking that general area with my parents in the 1980s and occasionally finding rifle rounds.
Wars have long lasting consequences.I saw an article about an old WWII battle site in a jungle in New Guinea with unrecovered bodies. The locals never go there for fear of ghosts. Or fear of unexploded munitions.
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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So in my home state in Germany there is a forest on fire, the largest wildfire in the history of North Rhine-Westfalia.
Size wise nothing compared to what we see here in the US, but there is a little quirk: firefighters have to be extra cautious and can't access all areas, because of WWII ammunition, mines and grenades that still are in the soil.
I remember hiking that general area with my parents in the 1980s and occasionally finding rifle rounds.
Wars have long lasting consequences.@carstenfranke Wow, that really is a bummer with the lost munitions in the area. Wouldn't be any fun at all to be hiking along a trail and find a hand-grenade or something. And off trail hiking isn't happening.
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@carstenfranke - oh, no. That sounds awful! I'm thinking of that old song: "War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"
Edwin Starr, excellent song!
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P pelle@veganism.social shared this topic
