Thanks, I'll look into that.
As far as the flare gun goes, I've kept mine from my days as a boater. Where I'm from there's usually not much danger of fire, at least not like in the West anyway.
But I'm the paranoid camper type. I've got a signal mirror, a whistle, some pen flares, and a large marine type smoke flare in my pack.
L
Here's a link to the manufacturer of the one I have:
http://www.acrelectronics.com
These have a discrete code that is registered, along with your personal contact info, with NOAA. Some even have GPS's built in and transmit your exact position to the satellite.