At Close Range

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California
THE FRESNO BEE
At Close Range
Madera County homes were built on former bombing-practice site.
By Charles McCarthy
(Updated Friday, February 6, 2004, 10:03 AM)

High-altitude bomb drops and low-level rocket and machine-gun fire at a
Madera County military practice range 60 years ago left a hazardous
legacy in today's Bonadelle Ranchos subdivision.

More than 2,500 people now live in a rural subdivision built atop the
former 6-square-mile World War II bombing range along Highway 145, about
four miles west of Highway 41.

They didn't expect that fields and construction sites with antiquated
explosive devices -- some still live -- would join the list of
challenges suburb pioneers typically face.

At least four military devices found in the rural community were handed
over to the Sheriff's Department in the past four years, including one
found last month within 30 yards of a home. It's not known how many more
have been picked up and never reported, but one area man says he's found
dozens of projectiles in the 12 years he's lived there and sold them as
scrap.

And though nobody's been injured, sheriff's officials say the ordnance
is potentially fatal and warn people to stay away if they stumble across
pieces.

The bombs were dropped by Army and Navy pilots on what was then open
rangeland for four years ending in 1946. That year, the military picked
up 15,000 pieces of bombs and rockets during a surface sweep, but didn't
delve underground.

"They went in there and picked up everything they could find. But they
didn't do any subsurface investigations," said U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers district cleanup manager Jerry Vincent.

The corps says it plans to do just that. The area is one of 435 former
hazardous defense sites on its federal cleanup list for western states,
but has a low-priority rating.

The corps expects to start clearing the former Madera Bombing Range in
2040. At Madera County's rate of growth, the area could be a small city
by then. A Corps of Engineers property description of the Madera Bombing
Range land includes a caution: "This property is known or suspected to
contain military munitions and explosives of concern (e.g., unexploded
ordnance) and therefore may present an explosive hazard."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/8093004p-8950487c.html

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