SEWARD -- Three red flares launched near Fox Island last week spurred a five-hour, $50,000 search, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard responded to the scene -- as did an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, the Seward Police Department and a good Samaritan vessel -- and ultimately determined the flares' source was a man teaching his children to use them while his family camped on a beach.

The Coast Guard says it is a good idea to teach children how to responsibly use flares in case of emergency, but it recommends notifying emergency responders in advance of doing so. With the holiday weekend here, the Coast Guard is also reminding people that flares are tools that should not be used as substitutes for fireworks.

False distress calls cost the Coast Guard -- and taxpayers -- more than $2 million each year, the agency said.