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Abstract
Most common fire retardants are foams or are similar to common agricultural fertilizers, such as ammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphate. Although fire retardants are widely applied to soils, we lack basic information about their toxicities to soil organisms. We measured the toxicity of five fire retardants (Firetrol LCG-R, Firetrol GTS-R, Silv-Ex Foam Concentrate, Phos-chek D-75, and Phos-chek WD-881) to earthworms using the pesticide toxicity test developed for earthworms by the European Economic Community. None was lethal at 1,000 ppm in the soil, which was suggested as a relatively high exposure under normal applications. We concluded that the fire retardants tested are relatively nontoxic to soil organisms compared with other environmental chemicals and that they probably do not reduce earthworm populations when applied under usual firefighting conditions.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Can earthworms survive fire retardants? |
| Series title | Fire Management Notes |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year Published | 1996 |
| Language | English |
| Contributing office(s) | Patuxent Wildlife Research Center |
| Description | 25-27 |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Fire Management Notes |
| First page | 25 |
| Last page | 27 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |