Firecrackers and bottle rockets, to name just two, are illegal in CA. So you touch a few off, and viola, a cop/park ranger/fishcop arrives to write you an expensive ticket...

Where I live if you set off an airborne anything they would bring in SWAT teams to bring you down, so you would be arrested but rescued.

Seriously, though, if done as you describe, benjammin, it could be enough of a nuisance factor to warrant someone calling it in.

Mdinana, I know they've used fireworks to scare birds from runways, right? So the surprise factor would probably work on bigger critters.

One of the survival signalling techniques taught by Hunter Safety/Education in Washington state is the three consecutive shot distress signal. The problem is twenty rounds of ammo can go pretty quick doing three shot volleys, plus the fact that you are putting lead in the air or at least discharging the firearm which presents additional risks. I gotta think a 100 pack of firecrackers would be less bulky and cheaper than 100 rounds of ammo, and accomplish about the same task. The SAR folks we talked to at the Mill Creek Watershed outside of Walla Walla still recognized the three shot distress signal as a legitimate method as of a few years ago.

I think generally anything in threes is recognized as some form of distress signal.

For threes.... Some fuze, some firecrackers, and wax. THAT might work-splice the little fuses into the big one, spaced for 2 second intervals, coated in wax. But I think I'd rather carry a metal cup under each of my nalgenes and a whistle- I can be noisy on my own. :P

Setting zombies alight is not recommended practice.
http://zombiedefense.blogspot.com/2007/06/zombies-and-fire.html

Okay, Brangdon, I'll forget setting the zombies on fire. Thanks.

Next question, brought up (inadvertently) by Benjammin: If someone with a firearm wants to use it to summon help by firing three shots, why do they fire it into the air (they always do in the movies)? What goes up will come down, eventually, somewhere. Personally, I wouldn't want to be beaned by a bullet coming back down at 30 ft per second, per second, or whatever the speed is.

Can't they just fire into a log or something?

Sue

30fps isn't much. Terminal velocity for something that size is probably higher than that, but not by a lot. So the risk isn't huge, but it IS there.

The only reason I might not fire into the ground is I don't know what is under the very top. Having the bullet bounce off a rock and come up through my foot or some other part of me just doesn't thrill me.

And firing into the air is an amazingly effective way of getting the attention of search aircraft. Not recommended, but it should work. *laughs*

The thirty feet per second per second that Susan refers to, is the acceleration due to gravity, not the terminal velocity.
One mph equal 1.66 feet per second; 30 fps is about 18mph.
I seem to remember that a human's "terminal" velocity is approx 120 mph. I don't know what kind of velocity to expect from a bullet in freefall, but I'd expect higher than that, given the density and drag. YMMV

I tried sparklers for fire starting. Rather hit and miss. Doubt a bottle rocket would work. But I've salvaged the powder out of a few firecrackers that had the fuses pull out while breaking up strings. Thought about mixing that with magnesium and aluminum filings in vaseline (to prevent oxidation of the metal) and using it for the devil's own PJ ball.

And a fire engine red MiG, which model?