Science & Nature
Coast Guard Gives Chicago Beaches the All Clear After Missing Explosives Found
Missing cylinders like the one pictured have all been recovered. (Chicago Police Department / X)
Chicagoans can hit the beach this weekend without worrying about rogue explosives washing up on shore.
The U.S. Coast Guard has said that all four “pyrotechnics” — or maritime flares — previously reported missing have been accounted for. One had been discovered by a lifeguard at Montrose Beach on Memorial Day; there’s no word on where the other three were located.
The explosives had been deployed earlier in May during a joint military exercise conducted by the Coast Guard and U.S. Air Force off the shore of Milwaukee.
Four of what the Coast Guard describes as “phosphorus pyrotechnics” failed to activate when they hit the water and were considered “armed.”
If they had been activated, the devices blow smoke and flames, and can reach temperatures of 2,900 degrees.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
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