A HYDEAWAY Bay man who found a phosphorous canister at a local beach wants others in the community to be aware of how dangerous these objects are.

Andrew Hines was walking his dog in a remote stretch of beach known to Hydeaway residents as Champagne Bay when he made the discovery on Saturday morning.

Mr Hines, who usually collects any rubbish he sees, picked the canister up and placed it above the high tide line to retrieve on his return. About two-and-a-half hours later, Mr Hines and his girfriend Michelle Carpenter were swimming in the ocean when they looked over to the shore and saw that the canister was smoking.

"I was absolutely gob-smacked that this thing had ignited - I didn't know what it was - it looked like it had been in the water for years but you could still read the label saying it contained phosphorous," Mr Hines said.

Mr Hines made a 000 call and emergency services responded straight away.

Officer in Charge of the Proserpine Police Station, Sergeant Nathan Blain said investigations identified the canister as a military phosphorus flare that had washed up onto the beach.

"The Army was contacted and they subsequently attended and due to the volatility of the device it was destroyed on site by an explosive charge," he said.

Sgt Blain said Mr Hines had done the right thing by contacting emergency services and reporting the suspicious device.

He said anyone who came across suspicious items washed up on the beach should err on the side of caution and notify emergency services.

Mr Hines, who could have been hurt by simply picking the canister up, re-iterated this.

"The point is these things are around and they're potentially dangerous," he said.

"I was ignorant of what it was - I thought it was harmless [particularly because] it had been out in the water for a long time but on the contrary it was quite deadly still - phosphorous is very nasty stuff - it gets into your system and you're dead."