Flare Experiment: Lessons learned

GeeBee

GeeBee

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I am moving and have to dispose of some marine flares. Fire department did not want them. CG Aux would not return my calls so I figured,"What the hey, I'll light them off, then dunk them." It will be a good learning experience as well.

So I fill a 5 gallon bucket with water. I then strike off the red flares. No problem with these despite a 2007 expiration date. Lit right off. Little disconcerting as the sides of the flare started burning pretty good along with the rooster flame. Dropped them in the bucket. No problem!

Then I light off the orange smoke flare. I knew the moment it produces smoke to dunk it. It burns a little then starts the orange smoke. I drop it in the bucket flame end down. Holy crayola! It keeps burning and producing smoke. So I grab the lid and throw it on the bucket. It still keeps producing smoke. It is self oxydizing under water! Well it burns out but I learned somthing about these units today. You can drop a smoke flare in the water and it will still smoke!
 
I like to keep my expired flares as backup. If you run out of unexpired flares an expired flare is better than no flare right?
 
Agree with keeping old flares as back up but I would use the old ones first.
 
I keep my old flares as stand-by but have always thought about firing one of those suckers up. Thanks for the heads-up Tony!
 
I keep my old flares. Everyone should practice shooting flares, it's not as easy as you think. Some years ago the marina/club I was at on Lake Norman had a practice session shooting flares, using fire extinguishers etc. I learned a lot that day - the first flare I shot (pistol type) I shot up wind, of course it came back and almost landed in the boat!
 
Thanks GeeBee, I always like when someone else has the Learning Experience but it usually doesn't work out that way.

Mike N/C- Does your station occasionally approve test firing of old expired aeriel flares at a specific time and location , to be fired horizontally over safe water?
Woods Hole gave me authorization to do this many years ago but I never did try it. I beleive I recall it came with the requirement to inform local PD , fire & harbormatsers office of any definite plan, which seems wise. This seemed like an good educational means of making safe some of the expired flares that over the years certainly do amount to a heck of a lot greater quantity than I would like to try to store aboard, or home in winter. There may be question of stability of 10-20+ yr old flares as well , and the shotgun shell type may develop corrosion on the firing caps. Further, some folks may not think to take the secure storage precautions with old (or new) flare gun shells that they might otherwise think of adhering to with conventional firearm ammunition.

It always seemed a bit of a conundrum that these marine safety devices are understandably required but there is often no legal way to dispose of them if local agencies do not want them. There should be a system set up so the packaging would refer the buyer to specific government-designated safe dropoff locations.

After all, stores that sell crankcase oil are supposedly required to provide on-site containers for the used/old oil to keep it out of the ground, sewers and landfills. Not that they all do...
 
Well I like to keep my old ones too. But how many "old ones" do I need to keep? Think about it guys. I have three other sets of "old ones". Sooner or later, you're up to your keester in flares.
 
Hmmmm maybe that explains the following:

(CBS) A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught by CBS affiliate KCBS's cameras Monday night, and officials are staying tight-lipped over the nature of the projectile.

CBS station KFMB put in calls to the Navy and Air Force Monday night about the striking launch off the coast of Los Angeles, which was easily visible from the coast, but the military has said nothing about the launch.

KFMB showed video of the apparent missile to former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Ellsworth, who is also a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, to get his thoughts.

Scroll down for KFMB video showing the launch.

"It's spectacular… It takes people's breath away," said Ellsworth, calling the projectile, "a big missile".

Magnificent images were captured by the KCBS news helicopter in L.A. around sunset Monday evening. The location of the missile was about 35 miles out to sea, west of L.A. and north of Catalina Island.

A Navy spokesperson told KFMB it wasn't their missile. He said there was no Navy activity reported in the area Monday evening.

(CBS) A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught by CBS affiliate KCBS's cameras Monday night, and officials are staying tight-lipped over the nature of the projectile.

CBS station KFMB put in calls to the Navy and Air Force Monday night about the striking launch off the coast of Los Angeles, which was easily visible from the coast, but the military has said nothing about the launch.

KFMB showed video of the apparent missile to former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Ellsworth, who is also a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, to get his thoughts.

Scroll down for KFMB video showing the launch.

"It's spectacular… It takes people's breath away," said Ellsworth, calling the projectile, "a big missile".

Magnificent images were captured by the KCBS news helicopter in L.A. around sunset Monday evening. The location of the missile was about 35 miles out to sea, west of L.A. and north of Catalina Island.

A Navy spokesperson told KFMB it wasn't their missile. He said there was no Navy activity reported in the area Monday evening.
 
I set off hand held flares and orange smoke flares in the back yard in Oregon (suburbs) on New Years eve. No one cares that time of year.
Once we set off an aerial 12ga. flare on July 4th and it landed on one of the neighbor's cedar fence and almost flamed it. *(He was ok with it, he was there! egging us on, even)
Lots of fun, though.
Buzz
 
Everytime I here of someone setting off a flare all I can imagine is the scene from Capt. Ron.
 
DET(onation) Cord not on steroids. Glad you weren't hurt.
 
quote:
Originally posted by GeeBee

Well I like to keep my old ones too. But how many "old ones" do I need to keep? Think about it guys. I have three other sets of "old ones". Sooner or later, you're up to your keester in flares.

Click to expand...


Yup
 
I keep the last set, but drop the older off at the CG for the AUG. to use for their tests. I carry a 25mm, so it isn't something I can test at ease
 
Much to our chagrin we cannot obtain the old style Olin 25mm flares. So we hang onto those regardless and replace the smaller ones as they expire. So we have all of the old 25mm flares as well as new ones that replace those. I could probably have a good show at this point and that's fine with us considering we cross the Gulf Stream etc. on the way to the Bahamas.
 
Like BillK, my club arranged a legal flare demonstation. Out of 52 expired flares (some as old as 10 years), all but 3 or 4 worked fine.
One other note: the same night they also launched an expired parachute flare. It was big- maybe 25mm. No gun was needed, it was self-contained. That bad boy was 100% brighter and stayed airborne at least 10X longer that a normal flare. HUGE difference!
After seeing that, a 12 gauge flare suddenly seemed so....inadequate.
The next week I had one onboard.
At 50 bucks each they're pricey but how much is 'too much' in an emergency?
 
This reminds me of a time when I was a kid. My cousin and I lit off a road flare, was having fun burning things with it until we see my uncle coming home. We throw it in a bucket of water, nope doesn't go out. So we cover it with dirt, nope still burning. Finally knock off the end of the flare and it finally goes out.
Your situation was probably a lot more controlled. I remember we were running around like a Chinese fire drill trying to get that damn thing out.
 
What to do with "too many" old flares? They work great for kicking off a barbecue or bonfire....
 
We had never even lit a hand-held flare before this past spring. My wife and I decided we should light one of the expired ones just for practice. Luckily we did it in our backyard because we were surprised at how much flame dripped down off the flare. It would make a quick mess of boat upholstery. So now we know to hold them over the side of the boat if we ever need to use them onboard.

I would also like to fire an aerial flare for the knowledge and confidence if we ever have to use one in an emergency but have constantly been told that was not allowed. I like the idea of having a special planned practice day coordinated with USCG Aux. I'll have to look into that for our area.
 
Hmm...No you have me wondering..Can you actually use a flare gun to knock an intruder off your vessel into the water? I've seen it done in the movies all the time...you know, creepy guy with knife sneaks up on defensless lady onboard her boat...defenseless lady see's flare gun inside an open locker...defenseless lady grabs flare gun and fires flare into creepy guys chest as he enters companion way...creepy guy falls back then flips over lifelines into water...Defenseless lady watches creepy guy sink as burning flare disappears into the inky blackness below.
 
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