THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310481
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUCK LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Traffic on state Route 12 may be snarled off and on for four days next week while a trench laden with old explosives is excavated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
An area stretching along about 100 feet of the road a half-mile north of Duck near a former U.S Navy bomb and rocket target range is believed to contain bombs and rockets, some possibly unexploded.
``During the time the work is going on, it is very important that the public stay as far away as possible,'' Corps representative Marty van Duyne said at an information session Tuesday at the Duck Fire House.
Regular traffic may be stopped for up to 15 minutes throughout Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, van Duyne said, but emergency vehicles will be allowed through at any time.
The Corps is in the process of determining what amount of ordnance - unexploded bombs, rockets and missiles - still litters the ground and subsurface of 176 acres that was used as a target facility by the Navy between 1941 and 1965. A research facility of the Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experimental Station stands at the site.
Signs warning off curiosity seekers or stray walkers are posted around the perimeters and throughout the area, straddling the Atlantic Ocean and the Currituck Sound. Examples of the ordnance were on display Tuesday.
Several years ago officials thought the area was safe. But when a man drove up to the Waterways Station in 1991 with what he thought was a souvenir bomb in his trunk, officials were jarred into taking a fresh look at the site.
Bill Birkemeier, Corps chief at the Duck facility, said the man was the father of one of a group of teenagers who had unearthed some old explosives in the sound near a pier just off-site. He said the group had carried several of the bombs home already, and more were later found in same waist-deep water.
``It was sort of a red flag warning,'' Birkemeier said. ``People find this stuff around and it's dangerous.''
There is no way to estimate how many total tons the Navy dropped on Duck, said John Baden, state coordinator of the Corps' Defense Environmental Restoration Program. But about eight tons of scrap metal were removed in 1993 by a private contractor. In 1994, the U.S Marines removed five unexploded bombs, a machine gun, 1,438 dud bombs and more than 20 tons of metal weapons casings from the site.
Randy King, Corps' safety coordinator, said the bombs and rockets the Navy used were not the same as those used in war, although they were deadly. Most of the test weapons were black powder cartridges and white-smoke charges, he said.
``Practice items - (but) they are still hazardous, they can still kill. Everything that can blow up can hurt you and kill you.''
King said a recent site survey, inspection and archives search determined that there is little risk of any unexploded ordnance being located beyond the site. He also said it is highly unlikely that ``high explosives'' - the real thing - will be found on-site, although such ordnance has been discovered unexpectedly at other restoration program locations.
Workers, using hand-held detection equipment that looks like elaborate metal detectors favored by beachcombers, expect to complete the $500,000 ``site characterization'' phase of the project by early spring. Based on the findings of the surface and visual sweeps of the area, necessary recovery will be scheduled. A public hearing will be held in about six months to provide an update on the findings, van Duyne said.
Any explosives that are determined to be live will be exploded with an electrical device as close as possible to the discovery site, King said. He said he plans to do most of the detonation on Thursday afternoons, weather permitting. Surrounding residents will probably hear a boom, but there won't be a concussion, he added.
In the meantime, officials warn anyone who spots any suspicious item to call 911, and not to touch, poke, kick or pick up any material that could be an explosive device, old or otherwise.
``Don't take it home and put it up on the mantelpiece,'' Birkmeier said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Army Corps safety officer Randy King says the practice ordnance
being removed near Duck is as dangerous as war materiel.
by CNB