If you haven't had some practice firing flares, you should - it is quite
enlightening.

We regularly shoot off last years' flares on July 4th, or another local
"celebration". Flares are fired from the shore over the water (nowhere near
any boats) as practice.

As many as 75% misfire some years (not counting the expired ones!), and an
occasional burn from the hand-fired type keeps the reliability and safety of
these things in perspective.

--
Sal's Dad


How does one dispose of expired flares? Save for the 4 of July? Call
the
fire dept?


**************

Don't do the 4th of July routine. The only reason you might not get
busted is that the cops are too busy dealing with everybody else.

Flares that are designed to be shot off when surrounded by wide
expanses of open water are not automatically safe when discharged into
the air while surrounded by hundreds of boats anchored or rafted beam
to beam for a fireworks display.

It isn't uncommon to see an illegally discharged, still burning,
parachute flare fall onto another boat's deck or rigging at FOJ
celebrations. I once saw a boater give a buring hand-held flare to a
little kid I'd be reluctant to trust with a sparkler.

The last time I bought flares, I took the expired cartridges down to
the fire station. At first, they gave me a hassle. "You need to call so
and so at such and such a phone number and make an appointment (on the
fourth Thursday of the next month with an R in the name) to drive 50
miles out of town and turn these in......."

When I commented, "Wow. That seems like a major inconvenience. I'm
surprised more people don't just screw all of that nonsense and throw
them into the nearest dumpster..........." they suddenly became very
accommodating and eagerly accepted my flares. :-)