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Expired Flares???

Quickbeam

Paddler
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
77
Hello Everyone,

It has been a very long time since I posted on this forum. My wife and I still have our kayaks, but due to back issues I couldn't sit in a kayak any longer so took up paddle boarding. Just to explain my long absence.

The reason for my post however, is that we were cleaning up some of our kayak gear a few days ago and realized we have some old expired flares and are having a very hard time finding somewhere to dispose of them. I wondered if any of you know where someone could get rid of some expired flares?

Thank you.
 
Not sure where you are, but last time I had expired flares, I handed them in at the Coast Guard Station in Kits.
 
@kayakwriter , how long ago was that? I thought the CCG no longer took flares, farming out that responsibility to Canadian Power Squadron. The last time I took flares in, it was part of a CPS program. They had a drop off on a certain weekend at Steveston Marine.

Disposing of flares is a PITA.

Cheers,
Andrew
 
Thanks guys. We are in the Fraser Valley in the Chilliwack area, but I would make the trip into town to dispose of these. I'll try the Coast Guard station and the Canadian Power Squadron. Thanks again for the ideas.
 
I’d think any fire department would take them. I can’t imagine why not. They surely have a safe way to dispose of them.

It’s too bad we don’t have a national practice day. Like you could try to shoot one off. Just doing through the arming and firing procedure once would be a useful experience.
 
I've tried two fire departments now and neither took them. Apparently the RCMP used to take them, but don't anymore. I'm having a very difficult time finding an organization that will deal with these. I have an e-mail in to someone at the Canadian Power Squadron so I'll see if they will take them, and if that doesn't work I'll see if I can somehow find someone to contact at the Coast Guard. But this is proving to be more difficult than I had imagined.
 
How about giving a power boat business a call. They usually sell flares, they me know where you can take them for disposal.
 
EDIT: Not a good idea.
You could likely fire them off in an urban area anytime there are fireworks ie Canada Day & Halloween.
 
Last edited:
> You could likely fire them off in an urban area anytime there are fireworks ie Canada Day & Halloween.

Our forests are too dry - Our “urban area” is the Deschutes Forest. Around here, though there are occasional fire crackers on New Years, the only light-up-the sky kind are set off around July 4th - which was cancelled this year.

My concern is the debris is expected to land in the ocean, i.e. water; not a nest of dry pine needles. So maybe while on/over a lake - except isolated from other fireworks, it could be misinterpreted as an alert.

Each year (except this hot season) the city puts on fireworks on a local butte on the 4th of July. And almost every year they start a fire (fire trucks are standing by) when the firework comes down hot and lands in a Juniper tree.

It’s amazing to me that a Dept whose job it is to put out fires would not be willing to (or have the capacity to) take in a flare someone wants to dispose of. That’s sort of like me taking a MAC-10 machine pistol to the police station and saying I’d like to turn it in and being told, “Sorry, you’ll have to keep it or give it to someone else."
 
One thing I don't recommend is shooting your flare in front of your house on the Fourth of July, only to discover that the flare's burn time exceeds its flight time by several seconds. I don't recommend watching the flare be carried by the wind across the street to your neighbor's property, there to descend atop your neighbor's elm, dripping burning phosphorous onto the tinder-dry leaves. No, I cannot recommend that you follow the flare's trajectory with mounting horror, powerless to avert a treetop fire for which you will be unable to provide a satisfactory explanation to your neighbor, the fire department, or the police. If you are lucky, the flare will exhaust its combustibles moments before impact, and you will flee inside your home, locking the door and turning out the lights so as to deceive onlookers into believing that you are already asleep in bed and would not, in any event, know anything at all about any wayward flare. Do not, under any circumstances, do any of this.

Alex
 
Don't worry guys. I have no intention of shooting off any of the flares. I am trying however, to do the right thing and have them disposed of properly, but it is getting increasingly frustrating. Called up a place near to us that sells large power boats as someone else suggested, but they don't take them either and had no idea where I could take them. And as someone else said, it really is crazy the Fire Departments won't take them. Still waiting for a return e-mail from the Power Squadron, but not holding my breath.
 
And as someone else said, it really is crazy the Fire Departments won't take them. Still waiting for a return e-mail from the Power Squadron, but not holding my breath.

Gee whiz - It's as hard to get rid of flares as it is to get rid of VCR tapes.
 
Transport Canada isn't of much help: 'Flares are valid for four years from date of manufacture, and should be disposed of after that time. For disposal of outdated flares, contact a fire department, or the local police for advice.'

This site has a list of upcoming deposal dates, a few being in BC in September
 
Transport Canada isn't of much help: 'Flares are valid for four years from date of manufacture, and should be disposed of after that time. For disposal of outdated flares, contact a fire department, or the local police for advice.'

This site has a list of upcoming deposal dates, a few being in BC in September

Thank you for this. It is a good start. Unfortunately the BC dates are all on Vancouver Island, but at least I can contact them and see if they have anything planned for the lower mainland. I don't mind traveling a bit of distance to get rid of these, but I'm not going to go all the way to Vancouver Island. But again, it gives me somewhere to start. Thanks again.
 
I'm curious to know what happens to them after these collection events. It can't be thaaaaat hard to come up with a device where these could be safely set off and/or burnt.

Could always wrap a few in duct tape and leave it under a park bench. I'm sure the bomb squad would know how to get rid of them :)
 
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The chemical engineer (ret'd) in me thinks they could be cut open in several places and left to soak submersed in water for a few weeks. Then the ammonium nitrate (or similar, whatever supplies the oxygen) should be dissolved out of the mix, rendering them inert.
 
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The local club (here in San Francisco) contacts the Coast Guard every few years to arrange an expired flare practice day. We get permission to shoot off those that still work on the beach outside of the coast guard station. They make the appropiate ccalls out on the radio to infonrm other mariners about this, to reduce chance of getting calls from people who see flares.

Quite informative to see how these things actually work a9and how many don't work). If there are a few people in the same boat, might be worth contacting the coast guard and seeing if you can make a positive experience out of disposing them.
 
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