A federal lawsuit filed over the use of fire retardant dropped by aircraft was filed in Montana in October of 2022. I am sure that this is old news for many of you as it has been covered in social media and other media sources, see for example Bill Gabbert's October 12, 2022 article in Wildfire Today Bill said in part:
An environmental group filed a lawsuit in a Montana federal court Tuesday alleging that the US Forest Service has polluted waterways by inadvertently dropping fire retardant in or near waterways. The retardant was dropped by aircraft under contract with the Forest Service while assisting wildland firefighters on the ground.
The suit says government data released earlier this year showed more than 760,000 gallons of fire retardant was dropped into waterways between 2012 and 2019. The lawsuit alleges the continued use of retardant from aircraft violates the Clean Water Act and requests a judge to declare the pollution illegal.
I was reminded of this lawsuit recently when I came across a video thanks to my friends at the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Section B10 who shared this video last week in their daily videos on their home page. This short video from ABC 10 in Northern California mentions the lawsuit, the environmental concerns posed by fire retardant and how fire retardant helps fire fighters on the ground. For some context, I know that fire retardant is widely used in the western United States when aerial resources are deployed to help fight wildfires. I am less certain how fire retardant is use in the eastern portions of the United States, I believe that most of the aerial resources deployed to wildfires in New Jersey do not use fire retardant. To the best of my understanding, most helicopters with buckets do not use fire retardant. I am less certain I found the video educational and enlightening and thought that some of you might enjoy this video.
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