Fire retardant washable

Manufacturer says chemical not toxic but can cause animals to get sick

The bright pink fire retardant dumped from planes onto homes, cars and burning hillsides during the Sand fire this week is a washable nontoxic, extremely salty, phosphate fertilizer that won’t kill pets and fades away over time, according to the manufacturer and homeowners hit with the chemical.

Jordan Matousek of ICL Performance Products based in Rancho Cucamonga said the pink coating left on cars, trees and homes of Sand Canyon residents whose houses were being protected can be removed with a gentle hosing down.

Matousek recommends using a garden hose with medium water pressure to remove the retardant.

If owners of homes with pink roofs do nothing at all, the color will fade away in about 4 weeks under constant exposure to the sun, he said.

Cats or dogs that lick the fire retardant might vomit or get sick if they ingest a lot of it, but it will not kill them, he said.

John Nelson, whose home in Stevenson Ranch was threatened by the Sage fire two weeks ago, was hit with the retardant when it was dumped the air.

“It’s not bad,” he said. “It washes off. It’ll come off your car if you go through a normal car wash.”

“My house got it, but my neighbor’s house was covered in it,” he said. “The firefighters cleaned off her roof with a hose.”

Two weeks after the Sage fire, the only sign of the pink stuff is in sidewalk crevices, stucco and concrete.

“It’s fading. You can still see it. It looks like raindrops,” he said.

The only serious concern about the chemical is its exposure to local waterways.

The pink retardant, called Phos-Chek, cannot come within 300 feet of a waterway with the exception of an “imminent life-safety threat,” said Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Fire drop operations will generally report those types of drops that would possibly affect a waterway, and no reports have been made to the state,” Hughan told The Signal Thursday.

“We will go into the area once the fire is out and it’s safe for our science personnel to move in there safely to check on habitat, but that will not be for several weeks,” he said.

According to the company website, “ICL’s Phos-Chek and Fire-Trol brand long-term fire retardants, Class A foams and gels are the world’s safest, most effective and environmentally friendly products available for fighting and managing and controlling wildland fires.”

Phos-Chek has been used, according to the website, “by premier fire management agencies around the world since 1962.”