What A Group Of Oregon Kids Brought To A Play Date Leaves Portland Parents Terrified
Parents in the Portland Oregon area are left thankful, but terrified after a group of kids brought their newest “finders keepers” treasure to a play date. Certainly, the group of children had no way to know how dangerous their newest find could have been when they discovered a foot-long, decades-old, military-grade, un-detonated mortar shell at a Portland wildlife refuge. So, why wouldn’t they bring the rusty, torpedo shaped explosive to their play date?
Police said that the un-detonated bomb was most likely tossed into the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge long ago, but that they do not expect to find additional un-detonated bombs above ground in the area, according to Portland Police Bureau spokesman Pete Simpson.
“It’s a mortar shell and very old. Not clear how old, but certainly decades, at least,” Simpson explained, according to News Daily, a news service of Science Daily. The children carried the un-detonated mortar shell about a mile to the home of a play date. At that point, thankfully, an adult called the police. Several of the surrounding homes were evacuated while bomb experts from the 142nd Oregon Air National Explosives Ordinance Disposal Team and a local bomb squad teamed up to deactivate the mortar shell. The police release stated that the mortar was still capable of detonating when the children were carrying it to the play date.
About once a year, similar findings are reported around Portland, but usually they are underwater or buried, not left above ground, local officials explained.
“Community members are asked not to touch or disturb these items, as they can be very dangerous if moved,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.
Explosive found at Oaks Bottom refuge was WWII-era illumination mortar http://t.co/5xGPGJeCng pic.twitter.com/6rDdqydhIX
— The Oregonian (@Oregonian) July 16, 2015
Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge was purchased from the Donald M. Drake Company in 1969 in order to prevent the floodplain wetland, which is located along the bank of the Willamette River, from becoming an industrial park. Part of the park is built on “a sanitation landfill consisting of 400,000 cubic feet of construction waste material layered with soil,” according to the City of Portland.
Sgt. Jeffrey Sadler, of the Oregon Air National Guard 142nd Fighter Wing told The Oregonian that the children’s new find was a “60mm illumination mortar shell” and probably was a World War II-era explosive. He said that illumination shells were “typically used during night operations to illuminate parts of the battlefield to help identify enemy forces.”
Sgt. Sadler said that these explosive devices can still be quite dangerous, because, as time wears down mechanical safeties, the fusing systems become very unpredictable.
“Explosives themselves can also be unpredictable. Some become more hazardous with age while others decompose and lose their explosive properties.”
Do you have a shocking play date story that tops the story of the finders-keepers mortar shell found in Portland, Oregon?
[Photo via Portland Parks & Recreation]
