Flare Disposal

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
HopCar

HopCar

Guru
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
5,308
Vessel Name
Possum
Vessel Make
Ellis 28
I think this is a first time event for the Miami area. Do any other local governments do this?

The Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management is providing residents with a safe, convenient and free disposal option for marine and road flares at the department’s two Home Chemical Collection Center locations, for a limited time. Beginning May 1, Miami-Dade County residents can safely dispose of marine or road flares at Home Chemical Collection Center locations during the month of May during the centers’ normal operating hours, Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Flare disposal will continue through the month of May and will conclude on Sunday, May 29. Flare disposal is limited to residential customers only – no commercial disposal is permitted.
 

Attachments

  • D46871CF-8A0E-4A59-B50C-15B9674EB3E4.jpeg
    D46871CF-8A0E-4A59-B50C-15B9674EB3E4.jpeg
    176.3 KB · Views: 36
Manatee County FL hazardous waste unit accepts flares for disposal all year long, no charge. I brought several expired units to them last month - was surprised t how easy / convenient it was.
 
Our local fire department accepts them year round. It is a volunteer department so they leave the door unlocked and you just set them inside.
 
Our chapter of Amercas Boating Club accepts donated / expired flares to use for demos & hands on training sessions.
You would be surprised how many boaters have never set one off. Most participants really appreciated the opportunity to give it a try in an organized, supervised and approved training session. We do notify local LEO as well as USCG ahead of time with location and start / stop times.
We usually tie it in with hands on fire extinguisher training using expired extinguishers.
 
Parks,

I've shipped you a large unmarked box for disposal.

Thanks a lot, buddy!!!!
 
But he will be the one that shipped the explosives…
 
Comodave said:
But he will be the one that shipped the explosives…
Click to expand...

He’s smarter than he looks. There will be no return address or fingerprints on the package. My mailbox will end up like a Russian tank trying to cross an open field in Ukraine.
 
The hand held flares are great for starting a bonfire or fire pit fire.
Especially if the wood is a little wet. :thumb:
Just stay upwind until the flare burns out.
 
Good for starting 'back fires' and 'control burns.'
 
For the second time our club is hosting a Flare Demo Day where boaters can bring in their old flares and shoot them off. I organized the last one and am doing this one on June 4.
The USCG has a form that needs to be filled out and I call the local fire dept a day or two ahead to have them send an ambulance to be on standby just in case. I also call our emergency dispatch center to let them know just in case they get calls about rescue flares.

Last time we did that we had about 75 people show up and we fired off about 250 flares of all kinds.
 
Used be popular to fire them in Sydney on NYE during breaks at the fireworks. Do it now and all or any of the Water Police, Maritime NSW,and Marine Rescue would visit. A police fine would visit too.
 
GFC said:
For the second time our club is hosting a Flare Demo Day where boaters can bring in their old flares and shoot them off. I organized the last one and am doing this one on June 4.
The USCG has a form that needs to be filled out and I call the local fire dept a day or two ahead to have them send an ambulance to be on standby just in case. I also call our emergency dispatch center to let them know just in case they get calls about rescue flares.

Last time we did that we had about 75 people show up and we fired off about 250 flares of all kinds.
Click to expand...
We did the same. Surprised how many Admirals (spouses) had never fired a flare. Good experience for all.
 
The hand held flares, hold them over the side of the boat when you ignite them or you might burn your boat up, compounding your problem. :eek:
 
Our District 3 also accepts them, actually tomorrow we are doing the demonstration.
I will be attending as XO
 
Canada has a different set of rules.
In our area, the chandler from which I purchase my flares take old ones on a one for one basis.
Fire & police departments will not take them, nor hazardous waste.
Occasionally, there is a sponsored event specifically for flare disposal purpose.
It is illegal to fire flares unless it is an emergency.
 
Years and years ago, when I went through a Coast Guard courtesy vessel inspection (FL), I remember them telling me clearly NOT to get rid of the expired flares, but to keep them, and use them in case of an emergency. I have flares in my kit that are more than 12 years old....and last 4th of July THEY WORKED JUT FINE.
Of course they are store in a water proof box.
Just a thought......
 
There's no rule saying you can't have expired flares on board, you just need the required three that are not expired. I keep my old ones till I can't get any more in the box, then dispose of the oldest ones beyond that. If you need them in an emergency, three is probably not going to be enough. Same with fire extinguishers, my boat requires three and I have seven or eight on board.
 
OldDan1943 said:
The hand held flares, hold them over the side of the boat when you ignite them or you might burn your boat up, compounding your problem. :eek:
Click to expand...

I duct tape them to a boat hook and hold it up at a 45degree angle over the side. You absolutely don’t want the sparks starting a fire aboard, now you have a second emergency…
 
Northportdiver said:
Years and years ago, when I went through a Coast Guard courtesy vessel inspection (FL), I remember them telling me clearly NOT to get rid of the expired flares, but to keep them, and use them in case of an emergency. I have flares in my kit that are more than 12 years old....and last 4th of July THEY WORKED JUT FINE.
Of course they are store in a water proof box.
Just a thought......
Click to expand...

Yes, you can keep old flares aboard. When we had a CG Facility we could only keep pyrotechnics on board that weren’t more than 5 years out of date. The CG had found that some pyrotechnics become unstable as they get really old and could explode. There were a couple of incidents so they started that 5 year rule. Not saying that they may not work perfectly fine older that the 5 year rule, they may or may not. IMO it isn’t worth it. I don’t want to be the statistic that they are quoting next year. Actually pyrotechnics are becoming much less worthwhile since we have several electronic means of calling for help. We carry the electronic flares and have PLBs on our PFDs. I figure we activate the PLBs and when help gets close to our lat/long they will see the strobe flashing. We also have DSC VHF and cell phones. But cell phones may or may not work.
 
In the past the USCG MSO office ( Marine Safety Office ) used to take dated flares and have demo events where they would light them and record failures. They would invite mariners to observe and provide feedback. My experience was in the NE from Maine to Jersey. Call them and ask. I attended a couple of these parties and it was quite revealing how many didn’t work.

Rick
 
Funny..... except for a few well saturated hand flares, I don't think I ever had one fail in hundreds of outdated ones as far back as 20 years.

I collected quite a few from the fleets I worked with/for.

Actually saw more duds in the USCG survival gear batches than recreational ones.

Still not a big believer in flares, but their reliability in my mind isn't a reason.
 
Last edited:
I have run a few disposal events for the Power Squadron in the past and had a fair percentage of flares not function due to soggy ignition pads. You could start one of these with another already burning, but easily 20% were useless on their own.
 
rgano said:
I have run a few disposal events for the Power Squadron in the past and had a fair percentage of flares not function due to soggy ignition pads. You could start one of these with another already burning, but easily 20% were useless on their own.
Click to expand...
Agree that the strikers are the weak link. Keeping the plastic cap on and storing flares in a dry place makes all the difference.
We just (7/30) held a visual distress and fire extinguisher training/ hands on demo.
I think all flares were operational but a couple over 10 yrs old required use of another striker.
Of the shell / launcher variety we had more duds but they were all more than 10 yrs old.

All fire extinguishers older than the new12 year expiration, operated fine as long as the gauges were in the green.
 
Last edited:
I keep a bunch of expired flares in my dinghy. A couple of summers ago I had an event occur that got me hauling them out and pulling the strings. I had 12 tries, 12 failures. None were as much as 20 yrs old, all were over 10.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Adopo
Stability and righting ability
Replies
19
Views
3K
Hippocampus
H
G
Instructions on how to apply online for FCC radio license
Replies
12
Views
3K
SteveK
SteveK
D
7 Years of Costs of Cruising and Living on a Boat
2 3
Replies
66
Views
9K
DieselTrawlerGuy
DieselTrawlerGuy
M
New-ish Jefferson Rivanna owners cruising full time
Replies
5
Views
1K
MVdisconnect
M
Cartouche
Rideau Canal Kingston
Replies
2
Views
1K
Cartouche
Cartouche

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom