Tests find no hazards at WWII bomb range near Finley

A metal-detecting survey conducted Sept. 17-19 found no sign of intact ordnance within the top 2 to 4 feet of soil.

Mike McKown, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' technical manager for the project, said the daily reports from the engineering company conducting the tests indicated no residual bombing materials.

Soil and surface water samples also were taken, but test results on those samples won't be available for a few weeks.

The investigation is part of the DERP-FUDS program, or Defense Environmental Restoration Program for Formerly Used Defense Sites. Thousands of sites have been identified nationwide for testing and possible cleanup. The Corps is gradually working its way through the list as money becomes available.

The old bombing range is one of several practice ranges used by B-17 bomber crews stationed at the Dyersburg Army Air Field in Halls. The range is located in the Mississippi River bottoms, roughly bounded on the north by Interstate 155, on the east by Yarbro Road, on the south by Highway 104 and on the west by the Great River Road. It is primarily farmland. With 600 acres, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is the largest landowner on the site. Much of the land has been farmed for the last 60 years.

After obtaining permission from current landowners to conduct the investigation, the Corps hired Parsons Corp., an Atlanta, Ga., engineering company.

Erich Stedman, field team leader for Parsons, said a three-person crew walked in a spiral, bull's-eye pattern through a 649-acre section of the bombing range. Using a Schonstedt wand-like metal detector, the crew covered a 60,000-foot path, or more than 11 miles, in three days.

A powerful tool, the metal detector can locate metals to an average depth of 2 to 4 feet, depending upon the size of the metal pieces, he said.

"We didn't find anything," Stedman said.

The crew also collected seven soil samples and a water sample from the only pond located on the old bombing range. Stedman said the soil samples were collected from among the two couple of inches of soil. The samples will be tested for metals and explosives.

Once the soil and water samples have been tested, the Corps will meet with state officials to determine whether any additional investigation is needed.

Based on the lack of metal objects in the soil and six decades of farming there, McKown speculated that officials might decide that no further testing is needed.

But, he said, that decision isn't likely to be made until mid- to late October.

Similar investigations are scheduled next year for two more old bombing ranges in Ridgely and Chisholm Lake.