Wildfires in Europe Uncover and Trigger Historic Bombs, Raising Safety Risks

A July wildfire in Germany’s Müritz National Park required bomb disposal teams to join firefighters because the forest floor contains Cold-War munitions that could detonate under extreme heat. A separate blaze in France’s Gironde region exposed a cache of WWII shells; authorities recovered at least 75, several of which exploded, and one projectile pierced an evacuated home, according to mayor Martial Zaninetti. Similar patterns have been documented, such as the 2025 Langdale Moor fire in North Yorkshire, where over 20 WWII shells detonated during a six-week peat fire.

Scientists say prolonged, high-temperature fires can raise soil temperatures past the ignition point of aging explosives, especially in dry peat and accumulated vegetation. Europe’s landscape is littered with unexploded ordnance from two world wars and the Cold War, often in forests and moorlands that now face hotter, longer fire seasons driven by climate change and rural land-use shifts. The combination of climate-induced fire risk and historic contamination turns these buried weapons into an active public-safety hazard.