A devastating large-scale wildfire that tore through forested areas near Bordeaux in southwestern France has unearthed a hidden leftover from World War II: hundreds of explosive munitions in the coastal village of Le Porge. After days of coordinated demining operations to clear the dangerous relics, all local residents were able to return to their residences starting Monday.
Local government officials confirm that recovery teams have pulled approximately 400 intact shells and ammunition fragments from the fire-ravaged zone, where more than 180 residential properties were destroyed by the fast-spreading flames. During the height of the wildfire, residents and first responders reported hearing repeated loud explosions that were initially assumed to be rupturing gas cylinders stored in homes. But fire commander Thomas Mimiague says those blasts were almost certainly triggered by the heat of the fire igniting the long-buried World War II ordnance.
A closer inspection of the recovered munitions shows the cache includes both German and French military hardware, dominated by mortar shells with a smaller number of high-explosive anti-tank rounds. Speaking on the origins of the cache, Mimiague noted that there is no clear documentation of why the munitions were placed in the area, but the leading working theory is that they were simply dumped and abandoned by military forces at the end of the conflict.
The Le Porge find comes amid an unprecedented summer wildfire season across France. The Bordeaux region blitz, the most severe fire to hit the area since 1949, burned through more than 40,000 hectares (nearly 99,000 acres) of forest and brush over roughly 10 days before fire crews successfully brought it under control. Fortunately, the blaze did not spread into the region’s iconic premium wine-growing estates, avoiding widespread damage to the area’s world-famous wine industry.