[pct-l] To flare or not to flare

[Brian McLaughlin]

While I see the point you are making, I think you have
oversimplified reality, which is much messier than that.

Smart people do stupid things. Well-informed people
sometimes act ignorantly, or rashly, or impulsively,
or out of fear. All it takes to become a stupid person
is a moment or two. And stupid actions, once they are
done, cannot be undone.

The difficulty with lighting a flare is that they are
designed to burn hot and not go out once they're lit. 
You can't hold it until it is burned out, because it
would burn your hand. You will have to put it down.
In SoCal's dry forests that is just begging for trouble.

If you bring a flare, in some sense it means you are 
intending to use it. Unless you have very specific criteria,
for when you'll light it, why you would light it, how you
will manage to handle it, and have practised all this
beforehand, the chances for screwing it up are too
high compared to the harm it could do.

Just believing that, if you're "not stupid" you can't
go wrong seems kind of... er, maybe I should stop
there.

Aimless


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry Zamora" <gerry0625 at gmail.com>
To: "David Thibault" <dthibaul07 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] To flare or not to flare


...stupid people start fires not flares...