The Elkton Farm Firehole site is located two miles northwest of Elkton, Maryland near the intersection of Routes 40 and 279. The Firehole Site occupies approximately 55-acres of the 400-acre Elkton Farm and is located just south of Zeitler Road between Little Elk Creek and Laurel Run. The most recent use of the Site has been as a working farm. During the decade before and during World War II, the parcel had been the site of activity related to the manufacture of fireworks and munitions. Investigations performed in 2006 by the Army Corps of Engineers identified an area on the current Elkton Farm as the Firehole. The Firehole was documented as an area for the disposal of waste explosives material during and just after WWII. Ordinance related material was observed scattered on the ground throughout the site.
On April 24, 2007 EPA mobed to the site with its regional ERRS cleanup contractor, Guardian Environmental and its UXO subcontractor, USA Environmental to complete munitions of explosive concern identification, avoidance and disposal activities. On December 21, 2007 the site was demobed for the Christmas holiday. The site was remobed on January 28, 2008. On May 2, 2008 a trommel mechanical sifter was mobilized to the site. The Trommel was used to seperate MEC and MD from site soils. EPA entered into an AOC with the property owner on August 8, 2008 in which the property owner agreed to complete work as described in Appendix K of the Site Work Plan. The property owner’s contractor began scraping grids on August 11, 2008 using a pan scraper. The OSC provided direction to the property owner on which grids were to be scraped and to which depth. The depth of scraping ranged from 8” – 16” based on magnetometer surveys and depending on how deep MEC and MD were found in each area. Scraped soils were staged on a predetermined area of the site pending trommel sifting. A total of 46 grids were scraped (11 were partial grids). Pan scraping activities as outlined in Appendix K of the Work and excavation of the fireholes are now complete. Sifting of scraped soils and QA/QC of all grids is complete. Regrading and vegetating site will be completed by site owner as per AOC after receiveing approval from MD's Voluntary Cleanup Program.
AS of March 9, 2009 EPA contractors demobilized all site equipment and personnel. Guard service was discontinued and property owner was notified that they are now responsible for site security.
The following materials have been processed/recovered to date:
Total Grids Cleared Gov't QA: 175
Total MEC found: 352,446 (MEC items include detonators, grenade fuse, blasting caps, tracer elements, incendiary bomblets, flares etc. etc.)
Firehole MEC found: 14,322 (incl. 13,974 tracers)
Total MD found: 40,693 lbs
Scrap metal found: 22,356 lbs.
Total Phase II processed soils: 34,253 cy
Grid Clearance and QA/QC Activities:
QA/QC of all remaining grids was completed.
MEC Burn Activities:
On February 13, 2009 a small quantity of MEC which was could not be transported off site was burned in buried concrete boxes. The burning of MEC items was conducted to ensure that all explosive constituents in MEC were removed prior to shipment off site. These operations were conducted by trained UXO Techs.
Disposal Activities:
On February 17, 2009 37 drums (approximately 28,270 lbs) of MEC containing mainly tracers was shipped off site for disposal as hazardous waste at an appropriate facility. On the same date, 15 drums (approximately 12,000 lbs) of munitions debris was shipped off site for recycling as scrap metal.
Property owner will regrade site and re-vegetate as agreed upon in Appendix K of the Work Plan. Initiation of this work is dependent on approval by MD's Voluntary Cleanup Program.
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