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The demolition expert explains why the bomb was detonated in Essen, how exactly it works and where he is at the decisive moment.
The first Essen bomb of 2023 was detonated in Altenessen on Tuesday evening (10 January). Frank Stommel from the explosive ordnance clearance service explains that the detonator was so damaged that it was not possible to defuse it. For him personally, the detonation is safer, after all, at the decisive moment he is not standing directly at the detonator of the bomb, as when deactivating it, but a few hundred meters away.
Bomb in Essen: blast on the same day
The “Schätzken”, as Stommel calls it, was found during explosive ordnance probing on the grounds of the Rot-Weiss-Essen youth academy at Seumannstraße 55. The football pitches there are being renewed. The responsible company informed the explosives expert, who drove out immediately and realized: defusing impossible. He calls those responsible in the city of Essen “professionals par excellence” in the procedure that then follows: pull the evacuation ring, organize patient transport, the police, fire brigade, THW, everyone must direct their attention to the bomb. According to city spokeswoman Silke Lenz, 320 people were deployed.
“It is always defused or blown up on the same day if, for example, the dud has been moved or if it is an acid detonator,” explains Lenz. If sensitive areas such as hospitals or nursing homes are in the inner evacuation circle (radius of 500 meters around the bomb) and have to be evacuated, which is always associated with greater planning effort, the action can also take place at a later date.
250 tons of sand for bomb blasting in Essen
In this case, there were only a few affected, around 8,000 people from Essen. For comparison: in 2021, an air mine was defused in Stoppenberg, affecting 38,000 people. In the Altenessen case, on the other hand, according to Stommel, it was a “relatively small bomb” from the Second World War. The defusing on Tuesday in Altenessen took place on the same day. However, this required 250 tons of sand, which had to be brought in at lightning speed. They came from the building contractor Sauerbaum from Kamp-Lintfort. Fire department spokesman Christoph Riss explains that he has a sand pit and could immediately send around a dozen trucks on their way to Essen.
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Meanwhile, Stommel built his construction to blow up the “Schätzken”. To do this, he unscrewed the tip at the front and positioned explosives in connection with a detonator in it. “It takes a hit to trigger the ignition,” explains the expert. The capsule, to which a cable is attached, is responsible for this. Stommel finally connected a cable drum to it, which reached behind a garage about 150 meters away.
Bomb in Essen: The fire brigade and police also have to leave the evacuation zone
Important: Once the construction is complete, the bomb should no longer be moved at a depth of seven meters, not even by tons of sand dumped on it with a wheel loader. “If the bomb slips, we have a huge problem,” explains Stommel. The on-site team had to start by carefully scattering the sand on the bomb, in the truest sense of the word. Once it is covered by a few meters, according to the explosives expert, it can also be tipped over.
Once all the preparatory work has been completed, it usually gets lonely for Frank Stommel. The fire brigade, police and municipal management team then also leave the inner evacuation circle. On Tuesday, the blaster and his colleague went behind that garage and pressed the button on the control unit at the end of the cable. “15 to 20 meters of sand splashed up and the pressure wave spread across the ground.” A sure sign that the blast worked.
250 tons of sand remain in Essen after the bombing
After that, as usual, things went quickly. The residents were able to return to their apartments and demolition expert Frank Stommel was soon allowed to call it a day. And the 25 tons of sand? The construction company doesn’t want it back, even though it has now done its job in Altenessen and is no longer needed. He finally served his purpose. Christoph Riss explains that the sand now has to be processed differently, after all it is mixed with earth, stones and other substances.
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