As the holiday season approaches and people potentially visit families in rural settings, the Alberta RCMP is asking residents to report any explosives they may find to local police.
“Every year, Albertans report finding dynamite or detonators stored, or in some cases forgotten, on their properties,” said Cpl. Paul Zanon with the Alberta RCMP’s Explosives Disposal Unit (EDU). “Most explosives the EDU is called to recover are located in rural areas.”
According to Zanon, between January and October of this year, EDU has located and disposed of 36 geogels, 11 sticks of dynamite, a quarter-roll of detonator cord, 10 kilograms of gunpowder, two metres of safety fuse, two perforator initiators and 161 detonators.
“Alberta has a large amount of degraded dynamite on older properties from mining and farming industries,” he said. “Some of these explosives were purchased because historic rules gave farmers and ranchers easy access to dynamite.”
Zanon said a clear majority of the calls EDU received means the public trusts local enforcement, and they want to do the right thing to ensure explosives are dealt with properly. He also said November is an important time to start educating the public.
“We try to get this messaging out in the fall when people start to gather with their families,” he said. “We just want people to talk with families in rural settings and see what is out there. Maybe there is something that needs to be dealt with.”
Zanon said if there are situations where explosives are found and need to be disposed of, there is no cost associated with the service – it is as simple as calling your local police detachment, which reaches out to the necessary unit. After that, EDU will visit and properly retrieve and dispose of the explosives.
“There is no risk or cost,” Zanon said. “A lot of times we are being shown stuff that has been improperly stored or illegally stored. That is not our mandate to pursue that, our mandate is educating the public to call us so we can go and help them.”
The calls are important, he said, because if someone has a liability on their property that is ignored, someone could be charged in the event of a person getting hurt.
“You don’t want us to show up when someone has gotten hurt,” Zanon said. “It is completely avoidable.”
Zanon added EDU does everything it can to ensure the retrieval and disposal process is an enjoyable part of the job.
“We try to make it a very positive experience because it is such a unique thing that we do,” he said.
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
