The Golden West Humanitarian Foundation has deep roots in the Americas with projects completed in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Paraguay. Over the past twenty-five years, we supported the Organization of American States, U.S. Department of State, and GICHD throughout the hemisphere with both explosive ordnance disposal (in this case, White Phosphorus Disposal), and physical security and stockpile management. Some of these operations were truly memorable and epitomized aspects of training and technology that have become Golden West trademarks.
White Phosphorus Disposal
In 2005, an explosive accident occurred in Guatemala City when a storage magazine containing White Phosphorus (WP) filled munitions exploded. In the post-blast cleanup the surviving munitions were deposited into three make-shift ponds hastily filled with water to prevent air from auto-igniting the ordnance filler. WP is highly reactive with air, making water submersion a temporary but risky mitigation strategy. The White Phosphorus Disposal was essential for the safety of the community and environment.
Over the next five years, the situation degraded, prompting Guatemala’s Ordnance Command to seek help from the Organization of American States (OAS). The ponds had turned into overgrown, muddy pits and they realized the situation had deteriorated beyond their control and capacity to safely manage. In February 2010, Golden West’s Deputy Director for Field Operations (Len Austin) and EOD Supervisor (Mark Lasley) were deployed to help resolve the situation.
As the water was drained from the pits, it became clear the situation was far worse than originally reported to OAS. The Golden West team worked with the Guatemalans and by the time the Golden West team had finished, over 5,000 hazardous WP munitions had been safely removed and destroyed. Some were unstable to a point that a local disposal pit was built to avoid transporting them. Golden West applied our proprietary NMD binary explosive to destroy these projectiles on site while training the Guatemalan Army.
As the operation concluded, the Golden West team had recovered US 4.2 inch WP mortars, 105mm WP projectiles, Spanish and US 81mm and 60mm WP mortars, US 76mm WP projectiles, and US 3.5 inch WP rocket warheads. Those that were fuzed or unstable were destroyed on site and munitions safe to move were transported to a demolition range about 50 km away for disposal.
The operation was conducted safely and without serious incidents or injuries. A very dangerous situation was effectively resolved and the Guatemalan Army Ordnance soldiers received some valuable training. This operation was just one aspect of Golden West’s support for the OAS, a long and valued relationship.
