Disposing of flares to Davy Jones' locker

[Pete7]

Contact the Bomb squad or Army Bomb disposal, they could use them for training

Would you really want me to give your son or daughter a grotty coroded flare thats way out of date to practise with? who would be liable if exploded and injured someone and what do I do if it miss fires, who is going to sort it out then? No thanks.

Scotty, have you tried your favourite chandlers, making it a condition of a major purchase? times is hard, you just have to make it worth their while.

Pete

 

[Neil_Y]

That's what I used some for but be careful as I heard of another yachty lighting a fire with a parachute flare, the rocket went in one side of the bonfire (it was quite a large pile of wood) and straight out the other hit a hedge and then let off the flare.

 

[cowpat]

Been there. done that.(as they say) You tie them inside with wire to an old tyre and keep well away till they have gone off. it is a very small ammount of heat and controlled easily.

 

[bendyone]

Take them to France on July 14th. Let them off anywhere no problem.

 

[Cymrogwyllt]

Remember, remember the fifth of November.

 

[prv]

Remember, remember the fifth of November.

Someone unexpectedly let off a couple of old flares at a New Year's Eve party of mine a few years ago. The hand flare wasn't too bad (just made him look like a fat, male Statue of Liberty) but the orange smoke (in a smallish windless garden) had a fair go at choking everybody. No idea what the point of letting off smoke at night was supposed to be.

Pete

 

[rogerthebodger]

Would you really want me to give your son or daughter a grotty coroded flare thats way out of date to practise with? who would be liable if exploded and injured someone and what do I do if it miss fires, who is going to sort it out then? No thanks.

Scotty, have you tried your favourite chandlers, making it a condition of a major purchase? times is hard, you just have to make it worth their while.

Pete

I would like to think that army bomb disposal would have all the training to handle this kind of thing and I was thinking that ABD could use then to train their new trainees

When I did my STCW 95 the instructor set of a hand held flare which had expired but he was experienced fire fighter

 

[lw395]

Anyone letting these things off in uncontrolled circumstances is a dangerous cretin.
Several people have had fatal burns from flares.

 

[prv]

Anyone letting these things off in uncontrolled circumstances is a dangerous cretin.
Several people have had fatal burns from flares.

I think that's a bit strong. "Several people" have been run over crossing the road, but it doesn't mean we should all stay on the side of the pavement for ever more.

Every couple of weeks I see a gang of people letting off hand flares in the corner of the yard - it appears to be part of the courses run by the sailing school based there. This might not be what you meant by "uncontrolled circumstances", but it's not as if the instructor present would be able to do anything to help if a flare were to malfunction. Should they stop this practice in case a flare goes wrong?

Of course a flare can be used in dangerous ways (see Portugal) but it doesn't follow that every use outside a genuine emergency is automatically dangerous.

Pete

 

[lw395]

My comment is mostly about the rocket types, in that context I stand by it.
Even the hand held ones can be very dangerous. When you use them for real, you can normally chuck them in the sea if it start to burn too close to you, what are you going to do on land?

If I heard of anyone letting off rocket flares as fireworks, I would have no qualms at all in reporting it to police or coastguard.

 

[cowpat]

Anyone letting these things off in uncontrolled circumstances is a dangerous cretin.
Several people have had fatal burns from flares.

Speaking as a "controlled circumstance" person who may be a cretin ? I would like to say I have let off flares and rockets since 1964 (usually on bonfire night) and can say I have always taken particular care with the expired stuff and never had anything go wrong.

 

[lw395]

Speaking as a "controlled circumstance" person who may be a cretin ? I would like to say I have let off flares and rockets since 1964 (usually on bonfire night) and can say I have always taken particular care with the expired stuff and never had anything go wrong.

99% of the time nothing will go wrong.
Does not make it any better if you are 'unlucky' when your actions kill or scar someone.

 

[prv]

Even the hand held ones can be very dangerous. When you use them for real, you can normally chuck them in the sea if it start to burn too close to you, what are you going to do on land?.

Chuck them on the ground and step back?

If you're serious about this issue though, perhaps you should take it up with Storm Force Coaching for endangering their students? Personally though, I think they'd be my first choice for a shorebased course, as they clearly believe in giving effective hands-on training.

I wouldn't recommend letting off rocket flares indiscriminately, but only because they can be seen over a wide area and may trigger false alarms. It's clear that the group of people standing over by the Travelift with hand flares are not in distress.

Pete

 

[Seajet]

I discussed time expired flares with the armourers at an airfield ejection seat maintenance dept ( ejection seats usually have a Personal Survival Pack with rocket minflares & day / night handflares ) - all the staff considered TEP's dangerous, and they weren't just trying to sound important.

Years ago in a moment of extra stupidity I set off a hand day / night flare ( November 5th, 40 miles inland ) and the casing cracked in my hand, then it lay where I'd quickly thrown it without it working.

I also tried outdated Miniflares; they simply failed to go off, leaving the interesting question of when they might decide to fire ( quickly buried deep ).

A chap at Cowes Week was very nearly killed a while ago when a rocket flare was fired from a neighbouring boat, went horizontal and filled his abdomen with burning phosphorous; a similar result happened when an instructor was correctly demonstrating how to fire a hand flare, it malfunctioned and fired through the base straight into him, he was lucky to survive but permanently injured.

Flares dumped overboard in military dumping grounds like Hurd Deep off the IOW or off the Western Scottish coasts have been known to roll along the seabed and onto beaches, how about if a child got hold of one ?

I agree there should be more of a fuss about this issue, and a decent system of handing in TEP's, my current solutution is apparently a 2 hour drive away after making an appointment; if I should have a road accident on the way I bet any emergency services attending would have something to say if rockets started whizzing past their ears !

 

[Reptile Smile]

Chuck them on the ground and step back?

Apologies for my thoroughly unhelpful post in a thought-provoking and important thread, but Pete, this made me turn my cuppa into an impromptu and unintentional caffeinated aerosol...

 

[webcraft]

Flares dumped overboard in military dumping grounds like Hurd Deep off the IOW or off the Western Scottish coasts have been known to roll along the seabed and onto beaches

Do you have a soure for this claim?

- W

 

[Seajet]

Webcraft,

I didn't take time-stamped records, but this crops up every now & again on my local BBC 'South Today' news; the types and serial numbers of the flares identified them as dumped military kit.

I also spent a lot of time at a Test Range in Western Scotland which uses a beach as well as land targets; I was told of military flares ( and other much more serious stuff ) coming ashore from the very deep dumping area off there, both by Range staff and fishermen at the nearby harbour.

 

[Heckler]

I dare say you right, old chap, but I was just pointing out some facts, and unfortunately I am but one of the 3500 humble volunteers in the CG's Coast Rescue Teams, so I have zero influence. So I suggest you do some wittering at someone else.

He cant help it, hes hard wired to be a leftie, interesting article in the Sunday Times culture mag yesterday about it. The Righteous Mind: why good people are divided by politics and religeon by Jonothan Haidt. He cant help himself, its in his genes!
Haidt is a liberal, his theory, backed up by much research is that liberals - who pride themselves on their openmindedness - are deaf to the concerns that motivate most of the worlds populations. it is as if they have only two tastebuds on their tongues: one for defending the vulnerable and the other for preventing suffering. Conservatives, along with all traditional societies, care about these issues too. But they weigh them against criteria that matter just as much to them: the human need for authority, loyalty to a group, religion and a society that rewards effort!

 

[webcraft]

He cant help it, hes hard wired to be a leftie, interesting article in the Sunday Times culture mag yesterday about it. The Righteous Mind: why good people are divided by politics and religeon by Jonothan Haidt. He cant help himself, its in his genes!
Haidt is a liberal, his theory, backed up by much research is that liberals - who pride themselves on their openmindedness - are deaf to the concerns that motivate most of the worlds populations. it is as if they have only two tastebuds on their tongues: one for defending the vulnerable and the other for preventing suffering. Conservatives, along with all traditional societies, care about these issues too. But they weigh them against criteria that matter just as much to them: the human need for authority, loyalty to a group, religion and a society that rewards effort!

And this has what exactly to do with the disposal of TEPs?

Specifically, what does it have to do with the abject failure of the Coastguard, the RYA or any other organisation to address the ludicrous situation where joe public is left in indefinite custody of explosives deemed too dangerous for 'professionals' to deal with?



- W

 

[lw395]

And this has what exactly to do with the disposal of TEPs?

Specifically, what does it have to do with the abject failure of the Coastguard, the RYA or any other organisation to address the ludicrous situation where joe public is left in indefinite custody of explosives deemed too dangerous for 'professionals' to deal with?



- W

Nothing!
I don't often agree with Webcraft....
I phoned a police station a couple of years back, they said over the phone they would take them, when I got there it was a different story. The noticeboard behind the desk had guidance of what they had to do if Joe Public handed in firearms or ammo though.
So the flares in my shed are now about 4 years out of date.