Great story Julio! I promise, I was laughing _with_ you. Up here in wild, woolly Alaska <g> we can get away with firing off expired flares out over the water on July 4th; but is there really any reason (other than boyish urges) to actually fire off old flares? Wouldn't it be safer and just as effective to simply soak them in a bucket of water until they're rendered ineffective and then dispose of them through the appropriate agency in your locale? I'll bet that the HazMat collections that many communities seem to have these days would also take in old flares and dispose of them properly. Dave Seng Juneau, Alaska > -----Original Message----- > From: juliom_at_cisco.com [mailto:juliom_at_cisco.com] > Sent: Friday, October 22, 1999 2:55 PM > To: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] expired flares > > > What do we do with the expired flares? > > I tried to fire one last 4th of July. > To avoid trouble with police and fire dept I chose to fire them > in what I thought it was a controlled environment--the bathtub. > > The thing must have bounce several times between walls and eventually > found its way out of the shower and fell on the floor. Everything > was black around me, and the only thing I could see was that bright > pink sparking thing on the floor. > > I spend the rest of the weekend venting the smoke, cleaning up the > black good from the bathroom walls, and changing the floor vinyl. > > Lesson learned: do not try this at home. ;-) > But in the experience I also learned that it would be extremely hard > to fire one of those aerial flares with cold hands in rough seas. > > Anyway, does anyone know where to fire aerial flares without getting > in trouble? > > - Julio > > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
David Seng wrote: > > Great story Julio! I promise, I was laughing _with_ you. > Up here in wild, woolly Alaska <g> we can get away with firing off expired > flares out over the water on July 4th; but is there really any reason (other > than boyish urges) to actually fire off old flares? Wouldn't it be safer > and just as effective to simply soak them in a bucket of water until they're > rendered ineffective and then dispose of them through the appropriate agency > in your locale? I'll bet that the HazMat collections that many communities > seem to have these days would also take in old flares and dispose of them > properly. Others have since chimed in with the best suggestion: fire or police agencies will likely take them. The HazMat collections around here specifically exempt incendiaries and explosives, but the fire department is usually there, so you could no doubt get them to take them. Sometimes when I have out-of-date sodium or potassim metal to get rid of, I coordinate its disposal with the fire department so they can see what Na or K do when placed in water. Most fire departments have little experience with exotic stuff like that, and I suspect they might wlecome a few donations so they can test out some of their extinguishing agents on flares, etc. YMMV -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR sea kayaker chemist *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 05:44 PM 10/24/99 -0700, Dave Kruger wrote: > > >The HazMat collections around here specifically exempt incendiaries and >explosives, but the fire department is usually there, so you could no doubt >get them to take them. Sometimes when I have out-of-date sodium or potassim >metal to get rid of, I coordinate its disposal with the fire department so >they can see what Na or K do when placed in water. Most fire departments >have little experience with exotic stuff like that, and I suspect they might >wlecome a few donations so they can test out some of their extinguishing >agents on flares, etc. YMMV > This won't work with aerial flares, but hand flares -- well, hang on to them! We hit some really wet days on our Lake Superior trip last month, and, well, you'd be surprised how well you can get wet wood to burn if you touch off a hand flare underneath it. -- Wes *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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