Retardant
Retardant
Phos-Chek long-term retardants are the safest, most effective, and environmentally friendly retardants available. No other products meet the current USDA Forest Service specification for long-term retardant. This specification includes product qualification testing for combustion retarding effectiveness, environmental, safety and health and corrosion standards.
Phos-Chek long-term retardants are used for wildland fire control in forest, brush or grass areas. Functionally, Phos-Chek retardants react with wildland fuels altering their route of
decomposition in a fire so that they do not support flaming or glowing combustion. The rate of flame spread is reduced. At low use levels, intensity can be dramatically decreased while a slow burning is allowed.
Our wildland fire retardants consist of fertilizer type salts, a coloring agent, corrosion inhibitors, and flow conditioners. The salts, when heated by the approaching fire, react with the woody material, grass and other organic matter rendering it unburnable, thus retarding the fire spread.
This reaction is independent of the water content of the retardant. Phos-Chek long-term retardants are effective as long as the salts cling to the grass or woody material. The water contained in the fire retardant solution functions only as a carrier for the fire retardant, evaporating before arrival of the fire and, consequently, contributing little in terms of fire retardancy. Treated areas will normally retard the spread of fire through dry, hazardous weather conditions. No other wildland firefighting chemicals currently available provide the same properties for indirect attack and line-building. Rain will, however, wash the retardant off the fuel.
The reddish color serves as a visual aid for pilots and firefighters alike. After a few days of exposure to direct sunlight, the "fugitive" color will fade to neutral earth tans.
Phos-Chek retardants are highly soluble powders or liquid concentrates that are mixed readily with water by recirculation, agitation or with eductor-mixer systems.
Download our Phos-Chek Fire Retardant Information Sheet. For more in-depth product information, contact a Technical Service Representative near you.
