Cops plan flare demo to help public ID distress signals

| 12/10/2016 | 10 Comments

(CNS): The police are hoping that a flare demonstration off the coast of Seven Mile Beach tomorrow evening will help the public to distinguish between distress flares and other lights that may be seen out on the open water, such as fireworks. The RCIPS Joint Marine Unit will fire two distress flares at around 7:30pm to show exactly what an actual distress flare looks like. “Although we live on an island with a very active boating community, there are many people who have never seen a distress flare themselves,” said Inspector Leo Anglin, RCIPS Marine Commander, as he explained the motivation for the flare demo.

“This demonstration is purely an educational exercise for the public, and intended to reduce instances where the 911 Communications Centre is mistakenly notified of a flare sighting. At the same time, it will give people confidence to know when indeed they have seen a flare, and to call the 911 Communications Centre to report the flare’s location, which is exactly what we need them to do.”

The red flares launched on Thursday night will be visible along Seven Mile Beach. Officials from the RCIPS said it could be followed by similar flare demonstrations in other places around the islands, all of which will be announced in advance.

Over the next few weeks the JMU will also be involved in media appearances intended to educate the public about marine safety ahead of Pirate’s Week in November.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Any type of light illuminating the sky offshore should be checked out, someone might not have a conventional flare to signal for help , they might just be tossing something saturated in fuel in the air for a signal , I think the marine unit would be better off telling people if the lights are not solid red green or white call 911 anything flashing is some kind of signal distress or otherwise

  2. Anonymous says:

    I have few flares in my cupboard but I keep them for boogie nights at the wharf.

  3. fire says:

    I can set of few fares to practise as I have many expired flares on my boat!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Free Firework show, brilliant! I love Cayman…

  5. Anonymous says:

    we need to see what it looks like from 5 miles or so out as that evening when the flare was seen by a West Bayer off of Northwest point when the 5 people on the boat including kids were being searched for, i think that is about how far out there it was, so it’s not useful to see a flare close up to shore because it will be much more large, bright and noticeable than a flare from 5 or so miles off shore?

    So how far off shore will they display this flare exercise? Very important!

  6. Anonymous says:

    JMU should launch one off from 12 mile bank to demonstrate how utterly useless and ephemeral “safety” flares are as a day/night sole means of rescue; especially considering only one or two of the aged emergency three pack found in most boats will actually work.

    The JMU marine safety takeaway should be that bluewater fisherpeople (that want to be found) should have a regularly tested/maintained EPIRB as part of their mandatory equipment checklist.

  7. Anonymous says:

    great idea…i have never seen one so will definitely be on SMB having a couple of cold ones tonight.

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