A new report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is issuing a warning to Alberta farms and rural areas, on several farms in the recent months dynamite and other explosives used for mining and leveling farmland have been discovered.
The explosives are thought to have originated from personal use by farmers during the early 1900s, but have remained on farms in storage after their use. In the early 1900s Albertan farmers had easy access to dynamite and detonators and the RCMP is hoping to dispose of all the dangerous devices on rural farms and properties.
The RCMP is warning residents to report any items that look like explosives on their farms to the local authorities to have the Explosives Disposal Unit (EDU) remove them from the area. They warn not to touch the explosives or move them, dynamite specifically is known to be unstable.
Through January to October of 2020 RCMP officers have removed 47 explosive devices from Alberta farms, ranches and houses. Alberta residents are being reminded to ask relatives if they have any explosives that they may have forgotten in storage and to examine their own barns and storage sheds that have been inherited or not recently cleaned.