Boom time: why climate change could blow up ammo stockpiles

Some are vulnerable to heatwaves and wildfires

The first explosion happened around midnight. People in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, jolted from their sleep in terror, feared they were under attack. Some fled their homes, into the streets. A bright orange plume stretched up into the blackness of the night sky. Soon, there were more explosions. No-one knew what was going on.

It happened on the night of 30 April this year, continuing into the early hours of 1 May. Maiduguri is frequently subjected to attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram. But this time, they had nothing to do with the blasts. This time, a heatwave was to blame.

As the Nigerian army later explained, a munitions store at a nearby barracks had got so hot in sweltering weather that some of the weapons there had spontaneously exploded. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

Although climate change wasn’t mentioned in official comments about the explosions, the incident occurred in the wake of an historic heatwave that hit the north of Nigeria in April. Such weather is becoming more common.

Explosives experts and researchers who spoke to The Reengineer say climate change could increase the risk of explosive accidents occurring at some munitions stockpiles. Plus, besides heatwaves, wildfires sometimes cause explosives including land mines to detonate, while floods and droughts occasionally expose or move around unexploded ordnance in the environment.