After the collapse of the Birch –
In Blten, soldiers burn wood harvested in the lake
The lake cleaning work which was formed following the landslide of the Birch glacier continues in the disaster village of Blatten. The army burns the debris in the open air.
Swiss army soldiers clean the lake formed after the landslide in Blatten.
KEYSTONE/Jean-Christophe Bott
Six weeks after the Birch glacier landslide above Blatten (VS), the lake cleaning work continued. The wood harvested by thearmy is burned every Friday, outdoors.
“By decision of the municipality of Blatingtaken after a weighing of all the interests present and in order to respond primarily to security imperatives, the floating wood recovered is, exceptionally, cremated on site, with appropriate measures ”, confirms the Valais Environment Service (Sen) in Keystone-Ats. These include using a water curtain, evacuating ashes and then controlling air quality.
“The surroundings of the lake are not accessible to trucks and an evacuation by air is not realistic given the volumes concerned, the costs and nuisances that this would generate,” sums up the SEN.
Samples are taken every day and analyzed to detect the presence of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (dioxins, HAP).
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