▶ Watch Video: Wildfires threaten France’s historic Bordeaux wine region
A huge forest fire near Bordeaux in southwestern France has revealed World War II shells in the village of Le Porge, where all residents returned to their homes on Monday after days of demining operations.
Around 400 shells and pieces of ammunition have been recovered in the area where over 180 homes were destroyed by flames, according to local authorities.
During the fire, blasts were heard, initially mistaken for exploding gas cylinders, but they may have been these shells, according to fire commander Thomas Mimiague.
According to BBC News, more than 100 explosions were heard on the second night of the fire, and Mayor Martial Zaninetti told French news outlet France Info the blasts were similar to “the sound of war.”
ROMAIN PERROCHEAU/AFP via Getty Images
“There were ammunition depots buried in land within our municipality, but we didn’t know it, and they exploded,” Zaninetti told France Info.
Zaninetti said there was “even one that went through a house.”
The munitions, both German and French, consist mainly of mortar shells, along with some high-explosive anti-tank shells.
“We don’t really know why they’re there; we think they were just abandoned,” Mimiague said.
Numerous fires have broken out in France since the start of the summer, particularly in the Bordeaux region, where the most serious blaze since 1949 has now been brought under control after burning more than 99,000 acres in about 10 days, without reaching the major wine estates of the region.
Munitions from the war have surfaced in France before. Last year, trains were brought to a halt around Paris following the discovery of an unexploded bomb dating back to World War II near tracks serving the French capital’s busy Gare du Nord station. In 2012, about 1,000 people were evacuated in Marseille so officials could remove a 1-ton German bomb from the war.