Beach closed after man injured by military flare remnants in Plymouth, Mass.

NEW ENGLAND IN BRIEF
Burning phosphorus pieces close beach

May 26, 2007

PLYMOUTH
A section of beach in Plymouth will be shut down until Sunday after a person was injured by a burning military flare yesterday.

The beach was shut down about 12:30 p.m. when a person, who fire officials would not identify, arrived at a police facility seeking medical treatment after walking on the beach just off of Center Hill Road, said Battalion Chief Donald Brown. When fire officials and police arrived, they discovered puffs of smoke coming up from the beach, said Brown. The smoke was from remnants of a military flare that had washed up on the beach last week.

State Police detonated the flare after it was found, but apparently did not recover all the pieces after the explosion, Brown said. When the phosphorus pieces dried out, they started to combust yesterday.

State Police collected more pieces and searched the area yesterday for more pieces. Officials were expected to search the beach again today, Brown said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/05/26/burning_phosphorus_pieces_close_beach/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News

Don't they know what phosphorus is?