PRE–TREATMENT RETARDANTS
Pre-Treatment fire retardants are deployed preemptively to fire susceptible areas, such as roadways, train tracks, and areas around powerlines. These retardants share many chemical and physical characteristics with long-term fire retardants with the primary differentiating factor being their durability after application. An effective pre-treatment fire retardant will withstand rain, wind, and solar exposure for an extended period, while maintaining flame-retarding effectiveness. Like long-term retardants, pre-treatments contain retardant salts (typically fertilizers) that alter the way fire burns by decreasing heat intensity and slowing its advance, even after the water the retardants originally contained has evaporated.
The water these retardants contain serves primarily to aid in dispersing the retardant uniformly over the target area.
Refer to the Long-Term Retardants Fact Sheet for further information.
Click a category below for more information
The following links outline information about currently approved long-term retardants, and contact information for the companies that produce them:
Long-Term Retardant Qualified Products List - Pre-Treatment - U.S.D.A Forest Service
Safety Data Sheets
Phos-Chek Fortify | Concentrate | Mix |
Phos-Chek LCE20-W | Concentrate | Mix |
Fortress FR-600 | Not Applicable | Mix |
Komodo | Not Applicable | Mix |
Fortress FR-700 | Not Applicable | Mix |
The results of the burn testing on comingled products focused on the FR-200 and LC95A-R products (as they have been shown to have the most adverse reaction) results showed no depreciation in combustion retarding performance. We would expect the same results from any of the other product comingling variations. There does not appear to be an issue with respect to expected performance in the field in the event different products are applied (products layered on top of one another) on fuels.
If your company is interested in submitting long-term fire retardants for evaluation, check out our submit a product section.
WFCS must first evaluate and approve long-term fire retardants before they can be used on Federal lands. The process for fully evaluating products can take 18 to 24 months. We list these products on our QPL once we approve them.