SAN DIEGO — Continuing its mission to protect the public from environmental hazards, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will soon begin searching part of a former Marine Corps training center for possible unexploded ordnance.

The Corps will start its investigation in a section of what once was Camp Elliott, about 12 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, Monday, Aug. 23, and will take about 12 weeks to finish. The 100-acre site is next to Sycamore Canyon Landfill near State Highway 52 and Mast Boulevard.

Access to the area will be restricted during the field effort, which will be done during regular working hours Monday-Friday each week.

The investigation will search for and clear any surface or underground ordnance and explosive material found at the site. How long removal might take depends on the kind and amount of any ordnance that is found.

The Corps and its contractor, SCI Services, Inc., from Huntsville, Ala., will use electromagnetic equipment to detect the presence of underground metal. Since the site is a former military ordnance training installation, it is possible that some of the metal might be unexploded ordnance.

SCI Services, which has a lengthy performance in this field, will dig up each piece of metal to determine what it is and neutralize any safety hazards.

The military used Camp Elliott, which occupied nearly 30,500 acres, as a Marine Corps training center from 1917 until 1961, when they moved to Camp Pendleton. About half was retained by the military for what is now known as Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The remainder of the property was sold to real estate developers, private individuals and municipalities.
 
For more information about the investigation at East Elliott, contact Greg Fuderer at the Corps’ Public Affairs Office at 213-452-3923.