🧯Fire retardant is a mix of chemicals used to extinguish or slow down the spread of fires.
🧯Phos-Chek brand is mostly used and it contains an ammonium phosphate-based slurry ( salts like ammonium polyphosphate) which does not evaporate easily like water and stays for longer.
🧯 The retardant is sprayed ahead of the fire in a bid to coat vegetation and prevent oxygen from allowing it to burn.
🧯Colour is usually added to the fire retardant to ensure that firefighters can see it against the landscape.
🧯Environmental Concerns:
Spraying fire retardant using planes is ineffective, expensive and a growing source of pollution for rivers and streams and kill aquatic life
🧯 It is laden with toxic metals, which include chromium and cadmium which can cause cancer, and kidney and liver diseases in humans
🧯The effectiveness of Phos-Chek remains unclear & depends on the slope, fuel type, terrain and weather.
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