Remains of Cold War flares wash up
ABOUT 20 flare casings have washed up on the northern coast, a week after Guernsey Police let off a batch of Cold War flares.
Just over 50 of the out-of-date flares were set off at Fort Le Marchant last Monday.
A Guernsey Police spokesman confirmed that the Mark 2 nuclear maroons were fired as part of the disposal operation.
‘Officers deployed on the day observed and collected visible debris following each rocket being fired,’ he said.
‘There were also sweeps after all rockets were fired and on subsequent days.
‘Owing to the location of the debris recovered by the member of public, it seems likely to have landed in the ocean and been washed ashore.’
The pieces were found by keen beachcomber Janet Unitt on Sunday morning.
They had washed up on the rocks near Fontenelle Bay, just the other side of the headland from where they were set off.
‘I found one and thought oh,’ she said.
‘Then I looked around and realised there were quite a few.’
About half the casings she found were in one piece and some still had their rubber seal. The rest were in bits.
She said she planned to see if the police wanted the pieces back.
The police spokesman said all the flares had fired properly, so the remains were perfectly safe.
‘It is nothing more than would be left over from a marine flare,’ he said.
The flares date from between 1960s and 1980s and were supposed to be set off as a nuclear warning, in case of radioactive fallout or the start of a nuclear war.
