Bomb disposal experts called in at Limburg wildfire

The wildfire near Venray in northern Limburg is under control, but efforts to fight the blaze are being hampered by the presence of unexploded munitions in the ground in an area that experienced heavy fighting at the end of the Second World War, the Limburg-Noord safety authority told broadcaster NOS.

Something that may be an unexploded shell was spotted in the Boschhuizerbergen nature reserve on Tuesday and experts from the defence ministry’s bomb disposal unit were called in. Heavy fighting took place around Venray during the war.

Explosions have been heard in the area over the past two days, but a fire service spokesman told NOS it is not certain these came from munitions. Intense heat can turn resin and moisture inside trees to steam, bursting the wood with a bang.

Keeping crews back from the buried ordnance is not slowing the operation down, the safety authority said, because the heat in those parts of the reserve would be unbearable either way.

Days of work ahead
“The fire stayed stable overnight,” Erik Thijssen of the safety authority told NOS on Wednesday morning. “There was no further spread.” He said the all-clear had not been given but the situation was “stable and manageable”.

Thijssen said putting the fire out completely would take several more days.
An emergency ordinance issued by the mayor of Venray on Tuesday afternoon remains in force. It bars people from entering the area and from flying drones over it.

Helicopters and crews
Defence ministry Chinook helicopters are due back in the air between 10am and 11am, the local safety authority told regional broadcaster L1 Nieuws.

The helicopters had dropped almost 900,000 litres of water on the fire by Tuesday evening, drawn from the Maas in buckets holding 7,600 litres.

Around 100 hectares have burned. The fire is being held inside “stop lines” – a railway line, an asphalt road and wide forest tracks – and firefighters are being rotated in from North Brabant, Utrecht, Drenthe and Friesland.