In November 1944 during the second world war, the Empire of Japan sent mysterious balloons in the air, which had been fabricated by minors in factories. The researchers had many months prior noticed, while mapping out the wind currents, that a strong air current travelled across the Pacific at about 30,000 feet. The idea was to have these devices explode over the forested regions of the Pacific Northwest and initiate large forest fires that would hopefully divert U.S. manpower from warfighting in the Pacific theatre to combating fires at home. Forensic geology, then in its infancy, made it possible to trace back the source of the sand and to make sure the hydrogen plants used in their proximity would not be utilized to produce more balloon bombs in the future.