Smoke warning in Wegberg: Phosphorus grenade discovered in the building rubble!

Am 4. April 2025 entdeckten Mitarbeiter in Wegberg Wildenrath eine alte Phosphorgranate. Feuerwehr und Kampfmittelräumdienst waren im Einsatz.
On April 4, 2025, employees in Wegberg Wildenrath discovered an old phosphorus grenade. The fire brigade and ordnance clearance service were on duty. (Symbolbild/ANAG)

Smoke warning in Wegberg: Phosphorus grenade discovered in the building rubble!

In a worrying situation, an old phosphorus grenade was discovered on April 4, 2025 on a recycled site for building rubble in Wegberg Wildenrath. This quickly became clear after a smoke development that was noticed during the work of employees. Immediate measures were taken: the work was stopped and the fire brigade was alerted to avoid a hazard that caused the grenade during the earth sieve.

The police blocked the surrounding Friedrich List-Allee to prevent passers-by. The ordnance clearance service and the ABC train of the Heinsberg district were consulted to clarify the uncertain situation. It remained unclear whether the grenade comes from a former Royal Air Force airfield site or is a dud from World War II. The grenade was found in the building rubble, which had previously been loaded elsewhere.

measures to defuse

The Kerpen ordnance disposal service was quickly used and carried out the securing of the object. An employee, equipped with breathing protection, shoveled the earth around the grenade, had it burned out in a controlled manner and then deleted it. The grenade was carefully packed in a container and stowed away in the vehicle in order to be able to remove it safely.

A similar incident was recently reported in Augsburg, where a smoking phosphorus bomb from the Second World War was discovered. This bomb was cylindrical and measure 45 centimeters in size. There, too, the fire brigade alerted the ordnance clearance service, which confirmed the find and put the bomb in a safe container. The reddish-blue smoke, which had a sweet smell of sulfur, was also the sign of the danger in hidden. As in the case in Wegberg, the police and fire brigade warn that the highest caution is required when discovering blind accommodation.

background and precautionary measures

According to information from the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, there are still many duds in former war zones, which increases the risk of encountering such objects. That is why it is important to alert the police or fire brigade immediately in the event of a suspicion and to keep the distance to such objects at least 50 meters. In the case of smoking or strange smelling objects, the distance should be enlarged even further.

The securing and defusing of dangerous objects such as the phosphorus grenade on the recycling site in Wegberg Wildenrath shows the need for quick reaction and appropriate procedures of the emergency services. Both when the grenades in Wegberg and in the reports from Augsburg and subsequently also in Munt de Sennes, where a US aviation bomb was discovered, the warning of blind accommodation remains unchanged: do not touch and move them and inform the security authorities immediately. Auditarians represent a serious danger, especially through erosion and soil moisture.

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