What do firefighters spray on fires?

Firefighters use mostly water to put out fires. They sometimes use other agents include firefighting foam, Dry Chemicals (Monoammonium Phosphate), Dry Powders (Sodium Chloride), Wet Chemicals (Potassium Acetate), and Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

What do firefighters spray on house fires?

It's a sight now synonymous with California's fire season: A tanker aircraft flies over vegetation and drops a stream of red. But what exactly is that stuff? It's fire retardant, used in preemptive strikes to keep flames from spreading.

Do firefighters spray water?

When most people think about firefighters extinguishing a fire, most people assume that firefighters always use water. However, water isn't the only material firefighters use to fight fires. They also use other substances, including foam. Firefighting foam is used instead of water for certain types of fires.

What chemicals are used to put out fires?

Three types of extinguishing agents are typically used—carbon dioxide, dry chemical, and foam water for fires involving flammable liquids, greases, and oils. Carbon dioxide is a compressed gas agent that prevents combustion by displacing the oxygen in the air surrounding the fire.

What is the red stuff sprayed on forest fires?

Known as Phos-Chek, the fire retardant has been used to fight blazes since 1963 and has been the main long-term fire retardant used by the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection in recent years.

PRE-ARRIVAL: Firefighters battle fire in auto repair shop, North Whitehall, PA.

Is fire retardant toxic to humans?

The chemicals used in fire retardants can be mildly irritating to humans, but have no serious health effects.

What is the pink stuff they drop on fires?

Pink fire retardant known as Phos-Chek is routinely used by aircraft in fighting wildfires and is about 85 percent water.

What do firefighters drop on forest fires?

What fire crews are dropping on fires is called Phos-Chek, which is an 88% water-based retardant mixed with a non-toxic commercial grade fertilizer. It's has a clay-based dye to make it visible from the air and on the ground. Cal Fire has been dropping retardant constantly during the 2021 wildfire season.

What is in firefighting foam?

FOAM: A fire fighting foam is simply a stable mass of small air-filled bubbles, which have a lower density than oil, gasoline or water. Foam is made up of three ingredients - water, foam concentrate and air. When mixed in the correct proportions, these three ingredients form a homogeneous foam blanket.

Why do firefighters use water instead of foam?

Maximizing water

All firefighters should know that we use water on structure fires to remove heat from the fire triangle by absorbing the heat in the room and cooling the available fuel.

Is Halon still made?

On January 1, 1994, Halon production ceases in compliance with the Montreal Protocol and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Why is halon banned?

In the mid '90s, the manufacturing of Halon was banned because of the environment effects of the gas. However, the use of Halon was not banned. In fact, there are hundreds of systems still in service. The agent can still be acquired through groups that reclaim and recycle the material for use on the market.

Can you breathe in Halon?

Inhalation: Halon 1211 is a simple asphyxiate. May cause coughing, dizziness, headache, dyspnea, unconsciousness and death. If symptoms appear or respiratory distress occurs, remove victim to fresh air. Seek medical attention immediately.

What is firefighting slurry made of?

Fire retardant is known as slurry. It's basically a mixture of mostly water and fertilizer. It was designed to protect trees, homes, and another structures from going up in flames. The mixture coats trees and vegetation, providing insulation against the approaching fire.

Is air dropped fire retardant toxic?

Wildfire retardants and human health

While generally deemed safe for people, Phos-Chek comes with a caution that the retardant should not be ingested and that it may be a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant.

Why do firefighters hate flame retardant materials in homes?

So flame retardants have been linked to a number of different human health effects, including impacts on fertility, reproduction, brain development, immune system function, and even cancer.

Does Mountain Dew contain flame retardant?

There's flame retardant in your Mountain Dew. That soda with the lime-green hue (and other citrus-flavored bubbly pops) won't keep your insides fireproof, but it does contain brominated vegetable oil, a patented flame retardant for plastics that has been banned in foods throughout Europe and in Japan.

What is the orange fire retardant?

The retardant, called Phos-Chek, contains ammonium phosphate, a fertilizer. It also includes chemicals to regulate how the slurry drops, emulsifiers that render it gooey so it sticks to targets, and a coloring agent so air crews can track what they've dropped.

What was Halon replaced with?

Halon Alternatives

These include carbon-based agents, as well as carbon dioxide, FM-200, ABC Dry Chemical, Purple K, and Novec 1230. These new chemical agents come in either foam, gas, or powder form.

Is Halon a gas or liquid?

Halons are fire extinguishing agents which are gaseous when discharged in the aircraft environment.

What is Halon made of?

A halon may be any of a group of organohalogen compounds containing bromine and fluorine and one or two carbons. The effectiveness of halons in extinguishing fires arises from their action in interrupting chain reactions that propagate the combustion process.

Is Halon a freon?

Bromochlorodifluoromethane (BCF), also referred to by the code numbers Halon 1211 and Freon 12B1, is a haloalkane with the chemical formula CF₂ClBr. It is used for fire suppression, especially for expensive equipment or items that could be damaged by the residue from other types of extinguishers.

Is Halon lighter than air?

The toxicity of Halon 1211 and 1301 is very low; Halon is not considered a carcinogen or cancer-suspect agent. Since it is heavier than air (vapor density = 5.2), it could, however, cause suffocation by displacing oxygen and thereby reducing its availability.

What is the difference between Halon and halotron?

The key difference between halon and Halotron is that halon is highly efficient than Halotron in fire extinguishing applications. Halon and Halotron are types of fire extinguishing agents that are useful in quenching a fire to protect valuable things.