Engineering360: "Watch: Gel developed for effective wildfire prevention"

Sounds very good. Now is the time for a large scale demonstration. The only real problem is how do they prove which areas have been treated months down the road?

Like all other fire retardants used on vegetation, the life span of the retardant, either PhosCheck or gel, used in other aspects of fire suppression does not last longer than a few days or a few hours respectively.

As ammonium phosphate is a fertilizer, it will be absorbed back into the unburnt vegetation and promote future growth.

Sounds great for fire suppression, but do the fauna think it tastes like chicken? Will the animals abandon the area thus contributing to the problem?

Have they tested the effect on wildlife that will consume it for months? How about the hunters that will consume the animals?

It's important as a society that we ask the questions and review the data they used to support the "environmentally benign" comment before implementing a "solution".

Ammonium Polyphosphate is fertilizer, if anything it will aid in regrowth where flora isn't burnt. They same substance, as quoted in the article, is used in other aspects of fire suppression.

A simple method of controlling the growth of the burnable material would be the introduction of goats to the area.

There is nothing a goat will not eat.

I have watched 3 goats clear a large wooded lot behind by house as a child in 3 days.

If you have a productive goat herder he could milk the females and produce milk for the children that is better for the children that cows milk.

The heards need to be kept moving north to south or they will eat the bark off the larger trees if they run out of the smaller growths.

Communities could encourage people to use the goats to keep the roadways trimmed and public lands mowed while fertilizing the areas at the same time. It could turn out to be a good employment opportunity. The goats tend to spread out and in wooded areas need a lot of supervision.