Jim, The fire retardant is probably Phoscheck (I'm not sure of the spelling) and is made by Monsanto. There is a large ammonia component to it. It has a sticky pancake batter consistency. It comes as a dry powder that is mixed with water at a tanker base. When ready it weighs about 10 lbs/gallon. When dropped it hits the ground not in a fine mist, but rather in clumps, some about the size of softball. Depending on terrain and aircraft, it is usually dropped from a couple hundred feet and speed of around 120 MPH. It is designed to stick to vegetation and persist for several weeks. The color is added so it can be seen from altitude. It is a fugitive dye and will slowly fade from exposure over a few months. I've been 'bombed' twice (on the same day in 1987!). It is not a pleasant experience--kinda like having a berserk pitching machine throwing fast balls at you and connecting. I don't recommend it. In recent years being hit by a retardant drop has been called 'being slimed' by wildland firefighters, who were probably 'Ghostbusters' fans. A direct hit from low altitude at higher speeds can destroy a 2 1/2 ton truck. If they are using retardant rather than foam on houses/structures the drops are probably from a higher altitude at speeds designed to disperse the retardant more than normal. Some A/C (the heavy helicopters for instance) have on-board foaming units and can drop foam. When vehicles are 'slimed' we are directed to wash them asap. The retardant is somewhat corosive. I'm not sure of the effect on a house, although I'd want to get it off quickly. I suspect that they may already have plans to wash down houses that were slimed. --Fred Team Boulder Creek ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Scotti" To: Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 12:59 PM Subject: Re: [Az-Geocaching] 4th of July > Hey Bill, > Don't you have a new Geocache on your property too (if I read the cache > page correctly...)? I might just have to make some plans, if I can convince > the family to tag along with all my "geeky" geocaching friends, that is.... > (and they have met some of you out at Sus!... :-) ) Last July 4 we were up > in Show Low watching the fireworks at their High School which is now the > equipment staging site for the Rodeo-Chediski fire this year. Luckily, my > mother-in-law's cabin south of Show Low is still standing (as far as we > know). I expect we'll be spending some time up there in a few weeks doing > some cleanup or whatever once this fire is completely suppressed. They've > supposedly been "painting the neighborhoods" with slurry the last couple of > days - what is that stuff like a few weeks after being dropped? > > Jim. > > Jim Scotti > Lunar & Planetary Laboratory jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu > University of Arizona > Tucson, AZ 85721 USA http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/ > > _______________________________________________ > Az-Geocaching mailing list > listserv@azgeocaching.com > http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching > > Arizona's Geocaching Resource > http://www.azgeocaching.com >