I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case, behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?

"Steve" wrote in message
news:2RqLe.269$5U2.245@lakeread07...
I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I
keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case,
behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and
the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the
Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?

Give them to a local sailing school. They'll use them as part of
instruction. Every once in a while they notify the USCG that they'll be
setting them off for class purposes. Students get a hands on fireworks
show.

Steve wrote:
I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case, behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?

If your USCGA and USPS won't take them for training, the fire
department
won't take them, the Police bomb squad won't destroy them, etc, you
have a couple of choices.

First, you can ask your local trash authority if they will accept them
at a hazardous waste facility.

Second, ask your local BIG BOX Marine Supply Store if they would
consider hosting a "flare event" in conjunction with one of the mfgrs.
We have had a few of these up this way. The factory rep from the flare
company shows up at the store, pitches the benefits of Brand X flares,
and then accepts any expired flares in exchange for a 25-30% discount
on fresh ones. What the factory rep does with the flares is maybe a
mystery---suppose he takes them out and fires them horizontally? :-)


I got the local fire department to take my last batch of flares. I
showed up at the station and initially got turned away, but as I was
going out the door I commented "It's sure tough to get rid of these
expired flares in a responsible manner. I'm surprised that a lot of
people don't just give up and toss them into the nearest dumpster!" All
of a sudden, the fire department was more than willing to take my
flares. Police and Fire departments do have safe ways to dispose of
explosive and incendiary materials, but I think they don't want to get
into disposing of flares if they can help it. I once read that in the
State of Florida alone there are a couple of hundred thousand marine
flares expiring every year.

I hope that is an old cheap shotgun....a flare will ruin a shotgun's
barrel.

wrote:
On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 18:19:45 GMT, "Steve" wrote:


I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case, behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?


Load them up in your pump shotgun and put on a fireworks show for the
neighhbors. If you do it on a holiday they won't be noticed among the
other fireworks.
People shoot 2" mortars ($5 and up a pop) around here to celebrate
"Friday"

Steve wrote:

I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case, behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?


In my country, we have basically three options:

1. Using them at new year evening, as it is commonly accepted by the
authorities to set off flares at new year evening provided this is
done in a manner where the flares "drown" in all the other
fireworks.

2. Using them for training and demonstration purposes provided this
is done after prior notification to the police and/or the local
RCC (Rescue Coordination Centre).

3. Returning them to a store selling flares, as there is now a
regulation in effect that make it compulsory for any store selling
flares to also take expired (or in other ways unusable) flares in
return for proper destruction, and this is fully independent of
whether the flares initially were bought in that store or not.



Stig Arne Bye

E-mail ......:
Contact .....: AOL IM: VT480TFE / MSN Messenger:
Snail-Mail ..: P.O.Box 169, NO-9915 Kirkenes, Norway
Homepage ....: http://home.online.no/~stigbye/index.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Located just about 70°N 30°E - Almost at the top of the world!

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 18:19:45 GMT, "Steve" wrote:

I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case, behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?

What I have done is gather some friends together, call the local
authorities/dispatch centers/Coast Guard and have a "flare training"
session.

However, I'm surprised that none of those agencies were interested in
your offer.

There's no reason not to call the local authorities/dispatch
centers/Coast Guard and tell them that you want to practice with the
expired flares, that you will be doing it in such and such a place at
such and such a time on this date and just go do it.

Later,

Tom

Around 8/13/2005 11:19 AM, Steve wrote:

I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case, behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?

There's a collection bin at my friendly (non-chain) neighborhood marine
supply store... What /they/ do with them is anyone's guess.

--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Apparently the police here (Ontario, Canada) will take them, as they do
expired ammunition.

Several boating organizations have made the error of asking permission from
the authorities (at various levels) for a flare demonstration - permission
is always denied. Liability issues.

Others have succeeded by _informing_ the authorities of what's about to
transpire. It also depends, it seems, on who answers the phone and what mood
they're in that day....

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

====

"Steve" wrote in message
news:2RqLe.269$5U2.245@lakeread07...
I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I
keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case,
behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and
the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the
Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?

Charles T. Low wrote:
Apparently the police here (Ontario, Canada) will take them, as they do
expired ammunition.

Several boating organizations have made the error of asking permission from
the authorities (at various levels) for a flare demonstration - permission
is always denied. Liability issues.

Others have succeeded by _informing_ the authorities of what's about to
transpire. It also depends, it seems, on who answers the phone and what mood
they're in that day....

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

====

"Steve" wrote in message
news:2RqLe.269$5U2.245@lakeread07...

I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I
keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case,
behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and
the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the
Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?



The Coast Guard and the Cdn Power & Sail Sq used to put on a flare
demonstration every May here. Coast Guard backed out. Guess I'll take
my old flares to the police station.

Fire them at Bayliners.
JR

Steve wrote:
I now have TWO full canisters of expired flares, both hand held and 12
gauge, with expiration dates that make them old enough to buy booze. I keep
the flares that are up to 3 years expired for backups, just in case, behind
the canisters of the unexpired flares.

I've asked 3 fire departments, 3 police officers, the USCG Auxiliary and the
USPS (Power Squadron, not the post office) and all I get is "I don't
know..." or, one fire department told me to take them out on the Chesapeake
Bay and fire them horizontally, preferably at Bayliners.

What do YOU do?


--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth