| New Fire Retardant Wildlife Study May Impact Policies | |
| ............ | |
| ANDREW EDWARDS San Bernardino County Sun
In response to a court order, the U.S. Forest Service will complete a study to determine whether using fire retardant to fight wildfires poses risks to wildlife in national forests. Air tankers dropping cherry-red plumes of fire retardant near blazes are a frequent sight over wildfires. During fire season, tanker pilots travel across the country, flying from wildfire to wildfire as needed. The use of fire-retardant drops was one of many tactics employed by firefighters when the Sawtooth and Millard fires raged near the Morongo Basin and San Gorgonio Wilderness in July. But tactics might need to change. The new study is expected to be completed by next spring, and forest officials are waiting to form their conclusions before discussing how the study's results may change firefighting policies, said Nadine Pollock, the study's project manager with the Forest Service. The Forest Service officially proposed continuing its use of fire retardant when the study was announced late last month. A primary environmental question that the study would need to address is whether fire retardant is harmful to fish and other aquatic life. "It could be toxic," said Chris Wehrli, leader of the study team. "It could promote invasive or non-native species, noxious weeds. It could change the chemistry enough to kill desirable plants." If the eight-person team concludes that fire retardant damages the environment, forestry officials would have to prepare a new environmental document that describes new firefighting proposals and how each of those policies would affect forests, Wehrli said. If the team determines that fire retardant can be used safely, firefighters can continue to fight fires under existing rules or make slight modifications to their tactics. In October, a federal judge ruled that forestry officials must research the possible dangers of fire retardant, and that they had violated federal law by not having already conducted a study. The judge's order was the result of a lawsuit that was filed in October 2003 by the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an environmental group based in Eugene, Ore. The group would like to see forestry officials use fire retardants with the lowest possible toxicity and adjust firefighting tactics so that retardant is not used in large fires, group executive director Andy Stahl said. Stahl is convinced that dropping retardant over huge, raging fires is ineffective. He said the mixture can evaporate before it hits the ground. "If it's going to be effective, it's going to have to be used on small fires," Stahl said. Under the Forest Service's existing policies, fire retardant should not be dropped within 300 feet of a waterway unless doing so is necessary to save lives or protect property. Forestry officials have also decided to stop using retardant that contains sodium ferrocyanide because of its toxicity. "When it gets in the water and exposed to UV sun rays, it turns into cyanide," Wehrli said. Pollock said the study would not be site-specific to the San Bernardino National Forest or any other woodlands under the agency's authority. Researchers are expected to spend much of their time reviewing existing research on the use of fire retardant and any associated environmental hazards. Stahl would like to see forestry officials revamp fire strategies as a whole, not just change retardant policies. Since wildfires are part of nature, Stahl believes the government should simply allow isolated blazes to burn themselves out. And in areas where people live near potential fire zones, buildings and neighborhoods should be designed to be more "fire-resilient," which, in his view, would reduce the need for aggressive fire-fighting operations. The main ingredient in fire retardant about 85 percent is water. The mix also includes fertilizers. Fire retardants function by slowing the spread of wildfires, which gives ground crews more time to halt the spread of flames. The Forest Service has used retardants since 1955. In 2005, about 19 million gallons of chemical retardants were dropped on wildfires across the United States. The Forest Service has set up an online forum devoted to the study at . | |
No comments:
Post a Comment