Qualla: Operation Hot Rock https://qualla.com/operation-hot-rock en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/8/4/operation-hot-rock-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Operation Hot Rock https://qualla.com/operation-hot-rock Operation Hot Rock: Introduction https://qualla.com/operation-hot-rock/ Photo credit Wittylama, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Marines painted a cartoon logo on their helicopters. They called it Operation Volcano Buster, though the official Navy paperwork read Operation Hot Rock. Either name captured something absurd and true: in April 1992, the United States military deployed heavy-lift helicopters to drop concrete blocks into the lava tubes of Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes, in an attempt to save the Sicilian town of Zafferana Etnea from destruction. "Everything is easier when no one is shooting at you," quipped one Navy officer. But flying over rivers of molten rock at 2,000 meters elevation carried its own kind of danger.

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Image: Wittylama | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/8/4/operation-hot-rock-wp/tn84-operation-hot-rock-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Operation Hot Rock: A River of Fire Bearing Down https://qualla.com/operation-hot-rock/ Photo credit Wittylama, CC BY-SA 4.0. Mount Etna had begun erupting from new fissures on December 14, 1991. By early January 1992, lava was flowing steadily toward Zafferana Etnea, a town perched on the volcano's eastern flank. Italian civil protection authorities and the army scrambled to build an earthen embankment...

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Image: Wittylama | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/8/4/operation-hot-rock-wp/tn84-operation-hot-rock-a-river-of-fire-bearing-down.mp3 0:06 2 full Operation Hot Rock: Concrete Against Magma https://qualla.com/operation-hot-rock/ Photo credit Wittylama, CC BY-SA 4.0. Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 266, embarked with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit off the Italian coast, received the call. Many of the pilots and crew were Gulf War veterans, experienced in hostile conditions but not in flying near erupting volcanoes. Their CH-53E Super St...

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Image: Wittylama | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/8/4/operation-hot-rock-wp/tn84-operation-hot-rock-concrete-against-magma.mp3 0:06 3 full Operation Hot Rock: Blowing Open the Mountain https://qualla.com/operation-hot-rock/ Photo credit Wittylama, CC BY-SA 4.0. The concrete drops alone could not stop the eruption. Italian authorities, with input from American specialists, devised a four-phase plan to redirect all lava from the main tube into a man-made channel. Bulldozers and explosives carved an artificial spillway high on the slope in...

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Image: Wittylama | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/8/4/operation-hot-rock-wp/tn84-operation-hot-rock-blowing-open-the-mountain.mp3 0:06 4 full Operation Hot Rock: What the Lava Left Behind https://qualla.com/operation-hot-rock/ Photo credit Wittylama, CC BY-SA 4.0. Zafferana Etnea survived. Residents who had spent months under the shadow of advancing lava returned to normal life by summer 1992. The cooled lava flows remain visible in the landscape above the town, and a monument plaque commemorates the successful diversion. For the Marines o...

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Image: Wittylama | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/8/4/operation-hot-rock-wp/tn84-operation-hot-rock-what-the-lava-left-behind.mp3 0:06 5 full