LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) – Above the ground, fire crews provided aerial support to battle the quickly moving flames in the village of Los Lunas last weekend. The red-colored fire retardant blanketed home, cars, and mailboxes. “The retardant was used on areas where we expected the fire to spread. The idea was to help contain the fire in that moment with this retardant,” said George Ducker with the New Mexico Forestry Division.
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Ducker explained that the retardant was used judiciously to encircle those areas at risk. And although its appearance may be alarming, Ducker said the retardant is not harmful.
“This retardant that was dropped is a product called Phos-Check, and it poses no threat to humans or vegetation,” continued Ducker. The water-soluble flame retardant is made up of water, inorganic salts, and fertilizer, and is meant to be easily washed away, but they do recommend wearing protective gear like gloves or goggles. “It’s non-toxic, it’s safe. However, it may take more than one pass with the hose. I would advise patience and repeated water applications to get the retardant off,” emphasized Ducker.
For the areas where the retardant coating can’t be easily washed away like the bosque, crews at the state and federal level are going to spend the next few days cleaning up, “They’ll be looking to see if there are affected areas and if there are, how we can best clean them up,” said Ducker.
The Desert Willow Complex Fire impacted more than 200 acres in the Los Lunas bosque and destroyed 11 homes.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
