BOMB SQUAD SAFELY DISPOSES OF CIVIL WAR ROUND
FREDERICK COUNTY, MD (March 23, 2021) - A team of Bomb Technicians from the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) safely disposed of a piece of Civil War-era ordnance yesterday evening after being discovered in Frederick County. The unexploded military ordnance was determined to be a live cannonball round used during the Civil War. Bomb Technicians conducted diagnostics and determined the fusing mechanism was still intact.
A homeowner of Glen Hill Court in Jefferson contacted the Office of the State Fire Marshal after being told by another family the cannonball was possibly live. The homeowner was given the cannonball by another family member who had earlier discovered it near the Monocacy Battlefield. After examining the cannon call, Bomb Technicians safely removed and transported it to the Beaver Creek Quarry in Hagerstown. It was determined the best course of action was to conduct an emergency disposal to render the ordnance safe.
Maryland has a long history of military testing, most notably at Aberdeen Proving Ground, on the Chesapeake Bay shores in Harford County. Unexploded military ordnance in the Bay and surrounding waters occasionally makes its way to the surface. However, the discovery of military ordnance is not limited to tidal waters. As proven today, the finding of military ordnance from the Civil War is not uncommon in Maryland, and these devices pose the same threat as the day they were originally manufactured. “If you should uncover or are unsure if an unidentified object may be military ordnance, be safe rather than sorry. Stay away and call 911,” stated State Fire Marshal Brian S. Geraci “Marylanders need to be mindful that military ordnance, even vintage artifacts from previous conflicts, have the potential to explode.”
The Office of the State Fire Marshal Bomb Squad would like to thank the Beaver Creek Quarry and its employees for the use of their facilities. Bomb Technicians have conducted numerous emergency disposals over the years on the grounds of their property. Their assistance has kept Bomb Technicians and citizens safe from these potentially dangerous devices.
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The
Office of the State Fire Marshal is an agency of the Department of
State Police dedicated to helping protect citizens from fire and
explosion through a comprehensive program of education,
inspection, investigation and fire protection engineering. For more
information on fire safety call 1-800-525-3124, log onto our website at: Maryland State Fire Marshal and/or our Facebook Page.
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