NEWS RELEASES
Colorado Warns Hikers To Watch For Undetonated Bombs
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Fox 31 Denver News' website.
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. - Colorado news station KDVR reports that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is warning hikers to beware of bombs when hiking in the state’s mountains. During the record-breaking avalanche season just coming to a close, the DOT deployed 1,500 explosive devices across the state as part of its avalanche mitigation program. At least 20 of them failed to explode and may remain hidden beneath the snow. The department performed its avalanche control activities in areas it hasn’t touched in decades due to this winter’s record snowfall totals. According to the CDOT website, the department monitors and controls some 278 of the 522 known avalanche paths in Colorado every winter to help prevent avalanches from impacting Colorado highways.
CDOT spokesperson Tracy Trulove says the ordnance looks like small, brightly colored torpedoes. "They're either yellow, blue or orange," she told KDVR. "It's probably something that shouldn't be in nature. Our team is tracking where those unexploded ordnances are, but you may come up on them before we do." Hikers who do find one of the explosive devices should keep a safe distance and be careful not to move it, then should contact law enforcement so trained professionals can detonate or disarm it.