A Blessing In Disguise

The military depot in Lisicji potok is situated at the foot of the hill on whose top are located, in the direction southeastnorthwest, the Institute of Security, the Military Academy Hospital together with some other military objects and the Orthopedic Hospital. In the valley between Banjicko brdo and Kanarevo brdo (two hills in Belgrade) lies the resident area called Lisicji potok, while a slope of Kanarevo brdo with another resident area called Miljakovac is to the south and the factory ``Tehnogas'' is to the east.

As the resident area expanded, big apartment blocks were built across the street from the ammunition dump. Originally used for storing medical supplies, the purpose of the depot in Lisicji potok was changed. However, the reservists from the area say that that's the place where they collected ammunition for the shooting practice. The depot was properly guarded, fenced in according to the regulations and protected by minefields while the signs with an appropriate warning were posted along the fence.

The tenants from the buildings across the street said that the army ran like mad wearing whatever they happened to have on at that moment. From the nearby hills the warehouse soon looked like one of those infernal holes on the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch: low clouds were reddish from the fire, flames shot up into the sky, sparks flew all around and explosions sounded and shook the window panes.

Most of the people thought at first that the war had broken out which clearly describes their present state of mind. Only a few linked the previous thunderbolt with the explosion in the depot and some thought of the factory ``Tehnogas,'' which many neighbors think is dangerous. Various objects from the depot started flying around after the first blast: fragments of mortar and artillery shells, unexploded mines and grenades, ammunition, pieces of rocket launchers, entire hand grenades with or without the plastic box and other dangerous metal objects. Some fragments were found almost 500 meters away from the site of the explosion. Shrapnel flew into some flats through the windows, several roofs were damaged, a couple of minor fires broke out, but only one woman was injured.

Around midnight the improvised evacuation of Lisicji potok and Miljakovac was well underway. In heavy rain parents carried their children wrapped in blankets, people lingered in the streets (instead of running for cover), and only Belgrade's taxidrivers demonstrated some common sense. Hundreds of taxis were alerted via the radioconnection and arrived to evacuate the endangered area.

Unlike the military authorities, the civilian authorities reacted quickly and efficiently: the first police patrol arrived in front of the military depot at 11.45 p.m. only to find it had been deserted and the gate opened. The firemen were there before midnight, but could not do their job because the explosions followed each other in ever shorter intervals. They asked for a megaphone probably to be able to give instructions to the citizens. The Center for Informing and Alarming answered the telephone calls by saying it knew nothing about the evacuation but the policemen in the streets advised the citizens to stay away as far as possible.

Some people sought shelter in the basements of the apartment blocks but they found that these were packed with flour, cooking oil, sugar, petrol and other stocked supplies. 26th police station in Rakovica was flooded, so the officer on duty conducted the action from the car.

The entire zone was soon blocked off by the police. The firefighters' reinforcement arrived, but they were not able to do anything until the next day: the explosions followed in series and the command did not dare risk lives.

Among the first to arrive in Lisicji jarak were Belgrade's thieves. The local radiostations reported the tenants saying that they deserted their flats in haste leaving everything open. When the reporter of VREME asked two young men in leather jackets, together with whom he stood in the doorway of one building, whether it was possible to go upstairs and enter a flat (in order to take a look at the fire from the window) they whispered to him, ``We'd also like to do it, pal. But, don't do it now, the place is swarming with the cops.'' The robbers were spotted immediately, so that the police sent for several crime prevention inspectors who know their clients well. We were later told at the police station in Rakovica that they had no reports of robberies, the police did their job properly that night. The situation did not change even after the blackout in the valley of the Topcider River around 4 o'clock in the morning.

``There is God,'' a fireman told the reporter of VREME, as we watched the fireworks through heavy rain from the safe distance. ``I'm telling you, because I know it, that this rain reduced the consequences of the fire by at least 50 per cent. The trees are all around and the terrain ascends. Imagine what would have happened if it weren't raining...'' He explained that the burning pieces scattered all over the place would have caused secondary fires in the area which is littered with unexploded ammunition.

Eventually, the area that is directly endangered would have thus spread dramatically. The rain, therefore, proved to be the first blessing in disguise: it rained until dawn, the spreading of the fire was prevented and the center of the fire in the warehouse was cooled down. The firemen told us that in such cases the residual heat in the foundation, i.e. the terrain directly beneath the fire, and in the elements on the sight remains dangerous for a long time. When this particular kind of elements is concerned (gunpowder and explosives), the temperatures are higher, and the uncertainty over whether everything has exploded is greater. This time period was significantly reduced thanks to the rain.

Another blessing is the fact that the ammunition for multiple rocket launchers was not stored in Lisicji potok. It was these rockets (128 and 264 mm caliber) that caused the damage and casualties on a much larger scale

during the explosion in the Croatian Army's ammunition dump Duboki jarak near Sesvete at the beginning of April this year. The engine of these rockets is made of solid fuel, gets easily ignited, so they fly any direction.

So, what was actually stored in Lisicji potok? In its announcement on Tuesday, the day after, the Information Service of the Yugoslav Army described Lisicji potok as ``a dummy explosive ordnance dump'' and appealed to the citizens ``to eliminate the rumors in their environment about the nonexisting causes of the explosion.'' If the fact that the explosion did take place although there was no ``cause'' is overlooked, there is still the question of ``ordnance.'' Dummy munitions are inert, i.e. they resemble the real ones only with their shape. They only simulate the effect of real munitions, and can be dangerous if not handled with care, but concerning the energy they can develop they fall far behind lethal devices.

The things that kept on going off from midnight to the afternoon in the night between Monday and Tuesday definitely weren't dummy, but live and lethal munitions. There is a plenty of material evidence: the reporter of VREME saw the policemen carry with greatest care mortar shells that had transportation safety pins. Dummy shells don't have them. Not to mention the fragments of mines, grenades and rockets. A number of M 75 hand grenades landed on the streets and were only cracked.

Artillery experts and engineers are concerned. In such cases when explosive munitions are chaotically scattered after detonations no one can be sure that safety pins have not been activated during the fall and remained active. We are talking about complex mechanical devices with a number of tiny parts and a high rate of reliability, which means that the odds that they have been activated are considerable. As a rule these are stored without a safety pin, but the rule is not obeyed in those cases where the munitions represent a tactical reserve of critical units or of those on duty. The situation, when the terrain around the warehouse is saturated with scattered unexploded pieces, requires a long, dangerous and delicate work of engineers and pyrotechnicians. The citizens were warned not to touch suspicious objects, and the policemen and engineers first cleared the area outside the fence of the military zone and are now dealing with the area inside.

On Tuesday afternoon the engineers began clearing the minefields behind the fence, and even threw tear gas at one point (in order to break up the crowd, and then do something they wouldn't want to be known).

With due respect for the standards of ``the new public image of the Yugoslav Army'' on which the Department for moral education of the Defense Ministry and the Information Service of the General Staff are working so hard, we remain hopeful that the live ammunition dumps will be moved and no longer located in the proximity of the civilian residential areas. We also remain hopeful that both services will understand the need that the citizens and the taxpayers who contribute to the salaries of the army are told the truth. That is always better and more practical even if some colonel is not promoted general.

We were very fortunate this time, all of us, the Yugoslav Army and the citizens. It may not rain so beautifully next time.