Sentence:  While he was putting on the snowplough, the Whites shot up a <WSD>flare</WSD> to see what was happening. It floated above us like a fizzing star at the end of a tiny white petal of a parachute. We threw ourselves down, in between the rails, in there with the dog shit. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light without an explosion, used to attract attention in an emergency, to illuminate an area, or as a decoy.