Funding Program: Terrestrial, Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems

Statement of Problem: Each year a variety of fire chemicals are used to fight wildland and range fires. The long-term retardants are ammonia based and are considered to be relatively non-toxic to terrestrial organisms and of low to moderate toxicity to aquatic organisms. However, certain chemicals do contain components such as sodium ferrocyanide as an anticorrosive agent and may pose an environmental hazard in the presence of sunlight. Human health risk assessments reveal that cyanide exposure from the use of fire retardants is of limited toxicity to humans or other terrestrial organisms. However, early scientific literature suggests that this component may cause significant toxicity to fish. To ensure the environmental safety of fire-retardant chemicals used to fight forest fires, the U.S. Forest Service requested an investigation to determine the potential for UV-enhanced toxicity and environmental persistence of fire retardant chemicals.

Objectives: 
1) to determine the toxicity of a range of fire fighting chemicals to fish and amphibians,
2) to determine the effects of ultraviolet light on the toxicity of fire fighting chemicals to fish and amphibians,
3) to determine the rate of degradation and persistence of toxicity in fire fighting chemicals across a range of soil types, and
4) to determine the effects of fire-fighting chemicals on behavior of fish.