500 TONS OF EXPLOSIVES STORED AT WV WILDLIFE AREA

(09/04/2010)
A West Virginia official told Charleston TV station WCHS that authorities have found more than 500,000 pounds of explosives in rented bunkers at the McClintic Wildlife Management Area near Point Pleasant.

Deputy State Fire Marshall Reed Cook said officials are trying to determine how to clean up the area, where there was an explosion last May.

Cook says the Army has warned officials to be extremely cautious because some of the explosives are unstable.

The state Division of Natural Resources HAS closed 305 acres of the area because of the potential for explosion.

During World War II, the U.S. Army built several concrete bunkers on the property to store munitions.

WV-DNR now owns the bunkers and leases them out for storage.