By Charlotte Herdliska, Corona de Tucson Fire Marshall
At this time of year, a lot of folks start planning for the summer season and vacations. Camping, boating, hiking, and travel all require some sort of preparation. While you’re getting ready for your vacation or just a long weekend, you should probably check the expiration dates on the consumables and replace as needed. A couple of items that might need checking on are batteries and safety flares.
Bad batteries can leave you in the dark and cause damage to sensitive expensive equipment like GPS’s if you fail to catch them. Replacement batteries are easy to find, and disposal of expired batteries is just a trip to your local recycling center. Safety flares can be a fire hazard.
Did You Know?
Batteries
*Alkaline batteries should be thrown in your regular trash.
All rechargeable batteries that are NOT swollen should be recycled.
Battery Recycling Locations in Tucson, Arizona
- Retailers: Most major electronics retailers, including Best Buy and RadioShack, offer free recycling of batteries, but you should call ahead first to confirm.
- Most Lowes and Home Depot stores have a recycling box out front, but again please call ahead to confirm.
- Batteries Plus takes rechargeable batteries.
Flares
When we talk about flares, it’s important to understand the difference between road flares and marine flares.
Road flares are designed to be stored in vehicles and used during roadside emergencies. They usually do not have an expiration date.
Marine flares are a completely different story from road flares. The U.S. Coast Guard requires boats to have marine flares and requires the flares to have an expiration date set at 42 months after their date of manufacture.
I would suggest inspecting your flares on a regular basis and getting rid of any that look like they are damaged.
Do not put any kind of unused flares in the regular trash. With enough heat or pressure, they can spontaneously ignite. They should be disposed of at your local Household Hazardous Waste Site.
Everybody please be safe out there!
Please contact your local Fire Marshal with any questions or concerns.
Corona de Tucson Fire cherdliska@coronafire.org FM Charlotte (520) 762-9370
Rincon Valley Fire (520) 647-3760
