Europe's wildfires are igniting forgotten WWII and Cold War bombs

Europe is full of buried explosives left over from 20th century wars, and the continent’s wildfires are now big enough, hot enough and last long enough to reach them

Europe’s wildfires have raised danger posed by unexploded WWII bombs

Explosive fillings can ignite or detonate when heated past a critical threshold

When a wildfire broke out in the Müritz National Park of north-eastern Germany in July, it was no routine firefighting job. Bomb disposal teams had to work alongside firefighters because the forest floor is contaminated with cold war-era munitions. Crews could not approach parts of the blaze directly for fear of detona