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I want to fire a flare

5K views 36 replies 23 participants last post by  rikhall 
#1 ·
Never did it before and thinking that learning in an emergency is not the best time.
Is their any protocol about how to do this without it looking like a real emergency?
Backyard is an option, the beach is an option but every place will attract some attention and on the boat is a better drill anyway.

A radio announcement maybe?
I've seen test firring recommend by several books but no one has addressed the practical problem of exactly the best procedure in a very urban environment.
 
#2 ·
Is their any protocol about how to do this without it looking like a real emergency?
Pretty sure any non-emergency use of distress flares is illegal. I believe that yacht clubs and other groups can get permission to fire demonstration flares, but you'd be in big trouble if you just went and did it yourself and then got caught. Not to mention the waste of resources should any agency actually respond to the non-emergency.
 
#3 ·
What a good question, I have wondered the same thing myself. My first thought is to do it on the fourth of july, in the evening. :) My second thought is to call the coast guard and see what they say. Maybe if they know you are doing it then it wouldn't be such a bad thing to do, though that wouldn't let other boaters know what you were doing. Maybe after you set one off you can set off some colored fireworks at the same time to kind of let everyone know you were just fooling around and not actually in an emergency situation. :D
 
#4 ·
I shoot all my expired flairs off on the 4...If you have ever held a roman candel you have enough practice already...no big deal.
 
#5 ·
Whilst I've never had the urge to hold a flaming piece of sulphur in my hand or fire a shotshell flare through a cheap throwaway plastic gun, I figure it's pretty straightforward should one need to.

When in the Channel Islands, I've heard several calls to the coast guard advising them that flare training was taking place and giving their lat and long. I believe it was as a "security" as in "you're not respecting my authoritae".

You might call your local CG station and ask them the proper procedure for flare training. I think they've had more calls for boats on fire from flares than sighting flares of distressed vessels.
 
#6 · (Edited)
DO NOT set off a flare for anything other than an emergency.

First, yes, there is a procedure for getting USCG permission for training, contact the USCG or Life Raft Survival and Equipment, located here in Rhode Island, as they have an annual safety seminar and acheive permission to light handheld and parachute flares. Second, I recommend you attend a safety seminar, not a solely classroom seminar, but a hands-on seminar, where you learn how to safely use the products, including flares, fire extinguishers, etc.

Third, I have set off the solas flares, these are not toys, they burn VERY HOT and are dangerous if not used properly. A handheld flare ignited will instantly boil a bucket of water on contact, and if you do not know to hold the flare away from you, versus above you, a non-solas flare can drip slag causing severe burns, solas flares tend not to due this but can. A buring flare can easily start of fire, or melt other materials, on contact. Also, a solas parachute flare will travel approximately 1000 ft up, travel with the wind, and burn for about 40 seconds, and again burns VERY HOT, and the flare may or may not extinuish prior to contacting the ground, thus, DO NOT SET OFF ONE OF THESE IN YOUR BACK YARD, you could start a fire or worse.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Your last paragraph, in my opinion, invalidates the whole idea of your first sentence. Reading your last paragraph made me imagine being in a liferaft, setting off a flare, and melting a hole in the raft so it wouldn't even hold air anymore. You've inspired me more than ever to set off a few flares to see what I should expect. :)
 
#8 ·
Get some white ones. They can be set off with any concern.
 
#9 ·
Contact your local fire department. They have training facilities and can sometimes be convinced to let you set off a flare, supervised, at one of these facilities. A small donation would probably go a long way.
 
#10 ·
Wind_magic-

Unfortunately, Max-on is correct in what he said. The USCG-approved hand flares tend to drop hot slag. The SOLAS-approved ones do not. SOLAS parachute flares may burn up to 60-90 seconds, and can travel quite a distance.

If you really need to fire off a flare, the white ones can be fired off fairly safely, as they are not generally used for emergencies. Get the same brand as the red handheld flares that you'd normally use. For parachute or meteor flares, it is a bit more difficult, due to the greater visibility these have.

A safety seminar, with hands-on section, is probably the safest way to go.
 
#11 ·
A few years ago during a fourth of July celebration before the evening's fireworks, someone fired off a flare in Marblehead harbor. the flare landed in the cockpit of an Ericson 39, burned through the cockpit sole and set the boat on fire. The crew on board went overboard and the boat burned to the waterline.
 
#13 ·
Our local CG Aux. tries to arrange for a "flare gun" day every year, they go to considerable effort to insure safety, very much like a very good gun range. Everything checked, weapons disabled, everything into a sealed tagged bag at a check-in station. Then you go to the "range" (the breakwater) and it's one shooter/ one coastie per station. Lots of buckets of water & extinguishers, AND LOTS of 5 gallon buckets full of old, old, moldy, crumbling stuff deemed too dangerous to try.
Gotta say most flares are pretty disappointing, friend had some little ones that attach to a PFD, totally useless.
Anyway, check with the local CG Aux. with enough interest they might be able to set it up in conjunction with some local event, you know "OLD Pirate Day" or whatever you have locally.
 
#14 ·
I would encourage everyone to attend a safety equipment seminar. Trying to figure out how to use your equipment in an emergency is not the right time or place. If used wrong a worse situation can develop like others have pointed out. Knowing how to use them properly can save your life and others. I am fortunate enough I get to attend one each year at work. The training is priceless.
 
#15 ·
Well there are two days a year you could "get away" with firing a flare. One is the 4th of July and the other is New Year's Eve.
But if you do fire off a flare. Notify everyone on channel 16 that you are setting off a flare for training purpose and it is not an emergency. Have about a zillion miles of open water between you and everyone else. Wear the appropriate personnel protection devices and then yell fire in the hole and shoot it off.
After the above is done and over with. You realized that you could have gotten a white or green star flare and used them instead for training on the "Very pistol." Without anyone thinking there is an emergency or other.
But the firing range should be clear and be aware of wind direction. Because the wind can carry that flare to where you really don't want it to go.
 
#16 ·
Here in the midwest, safety seminars include fire extinguishers and road flares. No one but the Coast Guard knows what a VERY pistol is! (yes, there is a limited Coast Guard presence on the Mississippi.) Twice I have used fire extinguishers and once a road flare to avoid catastrophy, but I, too, would like to know better what to expect from my emergency flares, which I am required by law to have on my boat. Perhaps next year on Independence Day I will set off the outdated ones, and hope no one notices. It is illegal to put them in the trash, illegal to burn them, illegal to bury them. I guess I'm supposed to eat them! I'd ship them to Capttb's safety seminar, but it's also illegal to ship them!
 
#18 ·
It is illegal to put them in the trash, illegal to burn them, illegal to bury them. I guess I'm supposed to eat them!
If you've never tried it - it's enlightening to try to find a place to dispose of old gasoline, talk about an exercise in futility! Most people just dig a hole, pour the gasoline in, and light a match to it, but just try actually finding a place that will accept for disposal as an experiment sometime. :) Nobody will take it.
 
#17 ·
RTD-

You can take them to the local fire department in many places and they will use them for trainings and such. Some of the bigger chandelries will also take them and dispose of them.
 
#20 ·
BTW, at the last Safety At Sea seminar I was at, they did fire off some 10+ year old SOLAS-grade flares. They beat the snot out of the USCG ones.
 
#21 ·
Why are you guys getting rid of "out-dated" flares. The odds of the flare knowing that it is out-dated and not working are pretty slim. How many could you possibly have?
Well, I try to keep it down to 2 guns, 15 shells, 6 smokes and 6 handheld flares but they still breed in the dark. Where do all the cheap orange life vests come from? Leave 2 in a dock box and when you come back there are 6.
 
#23 ·
Flares

If you remember the forest fires in Fla. several years ago, the A$$ H01e that started those fires used marine flares. I would not set one off from my back yard, you could start a forest fire, or the next Chicago fire. I shoot them off on the 4th with everyone else. Only one though and I let some one who hasn't ever fired a flare do it so they have done it. They're no big deal. Very low recoil. You can get white flares and practice with one of them, then keep the other 2 for emegencies, like when a ship is going to run you over. I keep my expired flares with my new ones. 3 just doesn't seem like enough. Firing the oldest one on the 4th of July.
 
#24 ·
You don’t need to get rid of the expired ones. Just keep fresh for the inspection and shoot the old ones first in an emergency. If in real trouble I want more than just the minimum.
 
#25 ·
I called the CG and was told that they recommended setting off flairs for practice. He said to just call them on VHS or cell phone and tell them your position and time of firing so any reports could be safely ignored.

He said he does it all the time.
As he said "when you have 5 minutes to live and are in 30 degree water it is not the time to start reading the directions.
 
#26 ·
Channel 16 in Los Angeles has Coast Guard announcements of non-emergency flare shootings all the time, usually for movie filming. The USCG gives the time and the place of the firing starting about 3 hours in advance, with announcements every 30 minutes until the firing time. It all seems pretty simple and straightforward as long as you tell them ahead of time what you are doing and you are not endangering yourself or others.
 
#27 ·
I've shot them off in my back yard. Not anywhere as impressive as typical fireworks. I like to do it after a rain. I was really impressed by the low altitude and relatively dim light produced. Much cheaper fireworks show up better. BUT I live kind of out in the country and shoot them when all of the kids in the neighborhood are shooting off fireworks too.
 
#28 ·
You're obviously not using SOLAS grade flares.
 
#30 ·
I shot off three different types of flares, the stick type most of us have and with my German flare gun, 12 gauge flares and 26.5 size flares. The 26.5 by far went the highest into the air.
 
#32 ·
One small piece of advice to the original poster. DO NOT shoot the flare to windward! You may find it drifting back upon you!

I was running on fumes late at night coming into Morro Bay Ca. I was talking with Harbor Patrol to advise them of my situation. Not hardly a breath of wind on the bay. The Coasties jumped in, and were returning from a search. They asked me to shoot off a flare, and they would spot me 5 gallons of fuel.

I thanked them, and went down for the gun. Without thinking I shot it up into the direction of the Coasties. As it started to descend it began to drift back to me. I had both sails up seeking any wind at all. The flare drifted what what seemed like inches past the luff of my headsail......LESSON LEARNED
 
#33 ·
Coast Guard training/fire drill

This thread reminds me of a recent observation at one of the local USCG homeports. I was there doing some work on one of the cutters, I will not say any names to protect the innocent.
We were dockside, with a diver in the water working and had a pretty good view of a training session going on for some nonrates down the quay.
This was apparently a training session on how to properly use a flare. The chief teaching the class spent about twenty minutes with his monologue before firing off a parachute flare.
It was a slightly breezy day and after the flare ignited it performed a graceful glide right down on top of one of their dockside picnic cabanas. Where it promptly set the shingle roof on fire.
The group of nonrates rushed into action and one managed to run to the cabana and with some assistance of some of his companions, put out the roof with a fireproof blanket of some kind. (I assume, it could have been his jacket).
I guess even the professionals have problems with flares sometimes.:D
 
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