The Cupertino Courier

News

Expert helps defuse explosive situations

By Cody Kraatz

Unexploded ordnance (UXO) technician Jack Imber has a simple rule of thumb for people who find military ordnance--the three Rs.

Recognize an item as a threat.

Retreat to a safe distance.

Report it to local law enforcement.

"You have to treat everything as live and ready to go. That's what we do. There are no gray areas," says Imber. He and other UXO technicians, who locate, identify and destroy explosives, don't generally take any chances. Their survival depends on it.

Some people collect ordnance from many eras as souvenirs or collectibles--including grenades, land mines, mortars, bombs and rockets--and consider them safe because they are old or the fuses are removed. But Imber warns that even an apparently defused explosive can be extremely dangerous and should be taken very seriously.

"Always err on the side of caution. People are too complacent," says Imber, who refuses to be photographed holding ordnance, even inert items he borrowed for a demonstration of his work, because it sends the wrong message.

The only way an explosive can be rendered completely inert, meaning it has no dangerous residual chemicals, is through a sophisticated washing process. An explosive ordnance disposal technician is the only person qualified to do this.

There are explosives and chemicals such as depleted uranium and mustard gas that can remain in a safe-looking weapon. During a house fire or other accident, they can be released.

There were about 1,500 UXO technicians like Imber in the United States when he got into the business in 2001. That number is exploding with the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, he says.

Imber has been offered about 20 jobs in Iraq, but he has turned them down because he does not support the war.

Imber, who lives with his sister in Cupertino when he's not traveling for work or training, got into his field when he moved to Hawaii. He wanted to participate in the cleanup of Kaho'olawe, an island off the southwest coast of Maui. The island was a firing range for ships, submarines and airplanes between 1941 and 1990.

The Navy practiced artillery barrages and landings during World War II. It set up mock airfields and surface-to-air defenses for bombers during the Vietnam War. It tested submarine torpedoes by firing them at the ocean cliffs.

President George H. W. Bush ordered the Navy to stop in 1990. It began cleanup in 1993 and stopped in 2003 when its funds ran out. Seventy percent of the surface and 13 percent of the subsurface--to a depth of 4 feet--have been cleared of ordnance, but the waters around the island have not been cleared at all, said Sol Kaho'ohalahala, executive director of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission.

Imber remembers going with 399 other technicians by helicopter every day.

"The area was just saturated. Every kind of ordnance was out there," says Imber, who served in the Navy in Vietnam. Part of the reason he chose his field is to change the impact he makes in the world.

"It just seemed like the most positive venture I could be doing. I really wanted something to do on the other side of war, the cleanup side instead of the shooting side."

Imber returned to Vietnam in 2003 and again in March for three weeks with the nonprofit Peace Trees Vietnam, which was founded in 1996 to help remove land mines and UXO, educate people about avoiding them and promote intercultural friendship.

For Imber, it was an epiphany of sorts.

"Oh my god. Why would anyone want to fight with these people?" says Imber, remembering his reaction to meeting and working with Vietnamese people. Peace Trees Vietnam works primarily in the Quang Tri province, where nearly 6,800 people have been killed or maimed by mines and UXO.

In the Cupertino area, there are military enthusiasts and veterans who have collected ordnance during their time in the military, at estate sales, garage sales or pawnshops.

Across the country, some Iraq and Afghanistan conflict veterans are coming home with souvenirs from their combat missions that sometimes include UXO.

"We do pick up World War II ordnance," says Sgt. Brian Washburn of the Santa Clara County Sheriff bomb squad. "It's not as uncommon as you would think. It's particularly common here because we did have several military bases here in our area."

He cites Fort Ord near Monterey and Moffett Field in Sunnyvale as two local military bases where ordnance could have come from, either from military personnel or from civilian contractors doing cleanup.

Washburn cautions that people recognize and report suspicious packages, not just grenades. Improvised explosive devices may not look dangerous but the bomb squad's website warns residents not to touch anything suspicious. People should call a deputy or police officer, who will determine what steps to take.

Imber says in UXO and land mine clearing operations, the ordnance is often left where it is, surrounded by sandbags, sometimes hundreds depending on the location, and then destroyed with heavy explosives from a distance.

Imber says his occupation is not particularly lucrative because work is not consistent as an independent contractor. For example, he recently thought he would be working in Butner, N.C., for three months but left after 10 days because the project fell through.

He was hired to help locate and clear ordnance from part of the former Camp Butner Army base. Camp Butner, which included 23,000 acres of firing ranges, a grenade range and a flame thrower training pad, was closed in 1947 and sold to private and public interests.

The deeds for some areas of the 40,000-acre base included a "surface use only" specification, but those areas now have houses on them. Imber finds this appalling.

"There's no gray area on that. Surface means surface," says Imber, adding that digging for a foundation or even planting landscaping could be dangerous.

On the second day, crews found a fragmentation grenade between two houses, about 100 feet from a woman's yard.

The crews later found a bazooka rocket at the edge of the same woman's yard.

Imber hopes that people will begin to take UXO seriously and take the simple precautions he recommends.

"I'm just trying to educate the public," he says.

To learn more about UXO, visit the U.S. Department of Defense's www.denix.osd. mil/UXOSafety.

Safety Tips

Residents who find unexploded ordnance or a suspicious item should:

Recognize that it could be very dangerous.

Retreat to a safe distance.

Report the item to law enforcement by calling 911 or 408.299.3233 from a cell phone.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff 's bomb squad recommends people never pick up a bomb or suspicious package because it could detonate when disturbed. The bomb squad is always available to investigate in Cupertino and other cities in Santa Clara County and nearby counties.

"Give your local law enforcement agency a call. A bomb is a bomb is a bomb, 'til it's not a bomb. And then it's been a great training day," says Sgt. Brian Washburn of the bomb squad.

The bomb squad website is at www.sccsheriff.org under Special Operations.