I should have mentioned that, but just forgot.

More hints...ALWAYS start the flare pattern far from whatever is blocking the road, putting the first flare near the outside edge of the lane. Light the first flare, place it, light the second one off of it (hold it out away from your body, or it WILL burn holes in your expensive pants), and WALK BACKWARDS toward the blockage. That way you can keep an eye on approaching traffic. Be ready to run for cover, walking in traffic is DANGEROUS. If you have enough flares, lay them in a very gradual line working from the outside edge of the lane toward the inside edge. You have to give approaching drivers enough time to see, think, react. Most drivers require a minumum of 1.5 seconds to perceive and react to anything new in front of them. At 70 mph a vehicle is covering about 105 feet every second, you do the math. A short flare pattern just doesn't work. Never flare off just part of a lane, do the entire lane. When you remove the little plastic cap, put it on the other end of the flare, that way the flare will not (probably) roll away. When lighting the first flare, hold it and the striker cap out at arms length and strike the cap DOWNWARD against the end of the flare, not the flare against the cap. That will sometimes reduce the amount of sparks that will fly off and burn more holes in your expensive clothes. Don't know why that procedure works better, it just does.

Again, the most important thing to remember is that being on foot on any highway is a very very dangerous environment. You must ALWAYS keep you eye on approaching traffic, and ALWAYS have a place of safety to run to. If you happen to be on a bridge, don't just jump over the guard rail, it might be a long way down...

Re the CHP, yes they can and do replace flares that the public put out. I used to give them at least twice as many as they used, that way next time they can put out more...