Wildfires across France and Germany have uncovered and detonated unexploded bombs dating back to World War II and the cold war.
Unrelenting heatwaves and severe droughts across Europe this summer have triggered an unprecedented wildfire season. According to data from the European Commission, as of 6 August 2026, over 500,852 hectares or 5,009km2 has been scorched by fire.
This exceeds both the area recorded by the same date in 2025 (the worst year on record) and the long-term average of the last 20 years (2006–2025).
Two wildfires in particular have seen firefighters working alongside bomb disposal teams as the affected areas are riddled with buried unexploded bombs.
In late June and July 2026, wildfires tore through forests in northern and eastern Germany. While these forests are now nature reserves and Unesco world heritage sites, some of these sites were formally Soviet and East German training grounds during the cold war. A fire at the former tank firing range in Müritz National Park...