The pink fire retardant that are saving Los Angeles homes

Fighting deadly infernos from the air

It’s hard to measure the efficiency of fire retardant because it’s one of several tactics used to fight wildfires, The New York Times reported. Other firefighting tactics include creating breaks in vegetation and spraying water, both on the ground and from the air.

The problem with just using water to fight an intense wildfire is that it evaporates. Fire retardants, on the other hand, contain fertilizer and other ingredients that don’t evaporate once the water they’re mixed with is gone, delaying a fire’s spread for days, weeks or longer. By slowing down wildfires, the fire retardants give firefighters time to work on the ground, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association. When used in fire retardant, ammonium phosphate can change the way the cellulose in plants reacts to heat. Ordinarily, plants exposed to a fire’s heat begin to decompose and become fuel, but Phos-Chek acts as a coating, creating a barrier that consumes the heat energy. The reaction produces a nonflammable carbon material, thereby slowing a blaze to buy firefighters time.

January 16, 2025 | 5:45 am