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New gel lets us spread flame retardant before wildfires start
The last few years have seen horrific fire seasons in California, resulting in destruction, deaths, and economic damage. And with climate change continuing unabated, things are set to get worse.
Prevention is better than firefighting; avoiding carelessness is one way to reduce the huge number of human-caused wildfires. But a paper in PNAS this week reports a new option for wildfire prevention: a fire retardant-carrying gel that coats vegetation in a thin film, keeping that vegetation safe from fire long enough to see it through fire season. If it is demonstrated to be safe, it could allow us to spray high-risk areas at the start of fire season and keep protection through until heavy rains start.
[...] Stanford materials scientist Anthony Yu and his colleagues wanted to figure out a way to get a retardant to stick to vegetation long enough to make it through California's fire season. They used nontoxic substances that are used in food and agricultural products—silica and cellulose—to make a carrier for a fire retardant that's already used in current formulations. The new gel makes the retardant stick to the vegetation for longer periods of time.
[...] The gel's longevity means that it could be sprayed at the start of wildfire season, and last long enough to offer protection until the first heavy rainfall. Once the heavy rain starts, wildfire risk starts dropping anyway.
The gel can be distributed using standard pumping equipment, so it should be quite easy to apply. And it wouldn't need to be sprayed everywhere: human-caused fires often start in high-risk places like roadsides. So, reducing wildfires wouldn't mean coating everything in retardant—focusing just on the high-risk zones would make a big difference.
Obviously, there's more testing needed before this option can be widely used, but this could be a beacon for a world facing ever more extreme wildfires.
Wildfire prevention through prophylactic treatment of high-risk landscapes using viscoelastic retardant fluids (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1907855116)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @05:57AM (7 children)
It will kill all the birds and insect that need to fly.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 07 2019, @07:45AM (5 children)
It may kill the vegetation itself.
You see, that surface you are suppose to cover with the gel, those leaves yes. They are used by the plants to breath and eat - unless you manage to create a transparent gel that is also permeable to the oxygen and carbon dioxide, you may end in just starving the vegetation. If you get there, I suspect that direct deforestation will get the same result but be cheaper than vast amounts of special gel and the cost of applying it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @09:25AM
I'm sure Dow Chemical can restart production of Agent Orange for that purpose.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday October 07 2019, @03:28PM (3 children)
That is definitely a concern worth investigating, but probably not actually a major issue - as I recall plants typically breathe through the underside of their leaves, while fire retardant would be applied from above. So long as it wasn't windy when it was applied, very little should reach the underside of the leaves to clog the breathing pores.
Of course, if that's not a universal trait of plants, it might wipe out some kinds, with an unpredictable domino effect on the ecosystem.
(Score: 2) by qzm on Monday October 07 2019, @11:24PM
You mean like the undersides of all those conifer needles?
It seems about as smart as releasing GM mosquitos without a basic understanding of evolution..
Oh.... damn.
Expect airdrops next week.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Tuesday October 08 2019, @05:40AM (1 child)
so cutting off ~50% of the plants ability to breath is not a major issue?
I gather from your opinion that you still have both your lungs.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Wednesday October 09 2019, @06:23PM
I fyou breathe through your mouth, how is painting your back going to effect that?
Same things with leaves - if they breathe through pores on the underside, painting the top isn't going to effect that.
The tops and bottoms of leaves are in fact *functionally* different, at least in most species.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 07 2019, @03:04PM
Idea to save the birds and insects.
Have ground crews apply a permanent flame retardant foam that hardens and sticks to all trees and vegetation. Similar to foam that might be applied to steel beams in buildings to protect from flames resulting from aircraft impacts.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.