Obsolete Munitions to Be Detonated at Camp Ripley Starting July 22

If you live in the Brainerd Lakes or Little Falls areas and hear explosions today, don’t be alarmed. An Air Force Reserve Unit will be detonating some old munitions at Camp Ripley.

The explosive items are components from old aircraft ejection seat systems, which were recovered or removed from former military aircraft and collected by members of an aircraft club. The items consist of the following:

• Aircraft fire extinguisher cartridges
• MB ejection seat primer sets
• TCU-1B thruster
• Mk 104 Mod impulse cartridges
• Drogue Gun impulse cartridges
• M119 Rocket Motors

The items listed above are considered hazardous wastes because of their explosive characteristics, and therefore, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is issuing an emergency hazardous waste permit to the Air Force Reserve Unit and Camp Ripley. The permit allows them to detonate these items at the location listed above through Tuesday, August 4, though the unit expects to complete the work this week.