I was just wondering...after watching coverage of the California wild fires....?

Question

I keep seeing planes flying releasing some sort of red/white powder. I know it lessens even puts out the flames but what exactly is it?

Answer 1

i heard on tv this morning that it is powerded limestone with dye so they can see the areas that need to be sprayed.

Answer 2

It is a fire retardant. There are photos posted on the Web from AP that have that as the caption and show the planes dropping that.

Answer 3

Potassium bicarbonate is used as a fire suppression agent ("BC powder") in some dry powder fire extinguishers, as the principal component of the Purple-K powder. It is the only dry chemical fire suppression agent recognized by the National Fire Protection Association for firefighting at airport crash rescue sites. It is about twice as effective in fire suppression as sodium bicarbonate. [1]

Answer 4

No one knows, it's a secret no one will tell us about. Frustrating huh?

Answer 5

It is fire retardant. The red colored one is Phoscheck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phos-Chek

Answer 6

I believe it is potassium bicarbonate....the same chemical substance used in fire extinguishers.