Light the Flares As you place the flares, light them. If you have LED flares, this means turning them on. With traditional flares, you remove the cap, strike the end of the flare against the cap with it pointing away from you and others, and place it on the ground where it cannot catch anything on fire.Click to see full answer. In respect to this, how do road flares work?Flares produce their light through the combustion of a pyrotechnic composition. The ingredients are varied, but often based on strontium nitrate, potassium nitrate, or potassium perchlorate and mixed with a fuel such as charcoal, sulfur, sawdust, aluminium, magnesium, or a suitable polymeric resin.One may also ask, will road flares burn underwater? A: Sure, a signal flare will burn on the moon, but you have to make a special one. The flare has to have both the material that burns (usually magnesium, which burns very brightly), and oxygen. The underwater olympic torch was designed to burn for about 3 minutes underwater. Hereof, is it safe to keep flares in car? When storing flares in a vehicle: Store flares, with plastic cap and removable lid in place, in the original cardboard box or a container that has a secure lid. Avoid storing flares oriented so that the ignition button and striker ends could face each other.Why do cops put flares on the ground?Emergency personnel can use highway flares to warn oncoming traffic about obstacles in the road, guide additional emergency vehicles, and even road closures. When placed correctly, you can channel traffic around obstacles in the roadway and help guide traffic around accident sites safely.