Brown County homeowners recently found land and tank mines on their property which required a little help from a special explosives group from Fort Hood.
According to homeowner Hilary Stegemoller, she and her husband Josh originally bought their property on Brown County Road 225 knowing there were a couple of mines on it, which they and the previous owners of the home expected were harmless, seeming to be rusted out and not live mines. Stegemoller stated that she and her husband both grew up in the area and as children would often find things like old mines and old mortar shells which were used during training exercises at Camp Bowie during World War II.
She explained that erosion led to the discovery of a land mine (pictured left) in the dirt roadway from their house to their barn, an area they often drive across in their cars and also on recreational vehicles with their children. The erosion had exposed this mine, which appeared to be live and in good condition despite its age.The mine was found Tuesday evening and they called the Brown County Sheriff’s Office to take a look. Deputies arrived that evening and took photos which were sent to Fort Hood for an opinion. Officials there told BCSO deputies to secure the area overnight and they would be on their way to take a look. Stegemoller stated that the family was instructed to stay in their home and not come into the area where the mine was located.
Wednesday morning, the Fort Hood Explosives Ordinance Device (EOD) unit arrived and told the Stegemollers to stay in their house while they prepared to detonate the device. Stegemoller stated that they told the soldiers where the other two mines were, near some trees by the barn. They didn’t think much of these mines because they were aware of their presence and that one of them had bullet holes in it where someone had shot at it in the past.
“I’ve mown over those and my husband has weed-eated around them,” said Stegemoller. “So we were a little surprised when they told us a tank mine, was found by the trees.”
Everybody is making a bigger deal out of it than what they feel it was, according to Stegemoller. She explained that she did not want a bunch of scare tactic attention brought to the area that would cause other property owners to panic that the area was riddled with explosive devices.
“We grew up finding these mines and mortar shells. You have to realize that Camp Bowie was a training facility. People find cool things around here,” said Stegemoller.
Once the tank mine was found, the soldiers began to build a barricade of sand bags in a 6-foot perimeter which was 5-feet tall around the device. Several Brown County inmates on the Precinct 1 road crew helped to fill the bags of sand for the EOD team.
At approximately 3 p.m., the family was told to “open any windows you want to keep,” in the house, and everyone other than the EOD team was ordered to move further away from the area, near the county road. Even the chickens in the barn and the family’s bloodhound in the backyard were evacuated before the device was detonated.
Stegemoller said there was a cautionary shout of “fire in the hole” before the blast and then a muffled boom, not an alarming boom from the blast.
About an hour later, they were told by the EOD team that the detonation appeared to be successful, but that they would wait to make sure.
Stegemoller stated that the family went to church that evening expected to come home to good news that the team was done; however they got a phone call that the detonation was only partially successful and that it made the device even more unstable. The EOD team used more C4 and detonated the device a second time which was a complete success, said Stegemoller.
“The unit that handled it was very impressive and absolutely professional. They had to evacuate our chickens & knuckle-head bloodhound two different times….but they were total pros,” said Stegemoller to friends in a conversation on Facebook.
Stegemoller explained that the team used “an abundance of caution and probably overkill” due to protocol which also had instructed them not to move the device. She stated that when she and her husband thanked the EOD team as they left, they stated they were glad to help and stated, “We’d rather do it here than in Iraq where we’re under fire.”
Stegemoller advises that anyone who finds an unusual device like these mines shouldn’t panic but call the proper authorities like they did.
The new land mine was located in the middle of the road to the barn.
The location of the two mines and newly discovered tank mine near the barn was baricaded with sand bags.
The detonated mines near the barn.
