Phos-Chek is a brand of long-term

fire retardant A fire retardant is a substance that is used to slow down or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity. This is commonly accomplished by chemical reactions that reduce the flammability of fuels or delay their combustion. Fire retardants m ...

s, class A foams, and

gels A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still dif ...

manufactured by Perimeter Solutions, headquartered in Clayton, Missouri.

Products

Fire retardants

Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System being filled with a 146th Airlift Wing C-130 Hercules in the background

Phos-Chek

s are manufactured as dry powders or as concentrated liquids and diluted with water prior to use. The retardant is applied ahead of

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

s to homes and vegetation by ground crews and

aerial firefighting Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands *Aerial (Canadian band) * Aerial (Scottish band) * Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art * Aerial sil ...

units, either

fixed-wing A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct ...

rotary-wing A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The Internati ...

aircraft. As of 2022, Phos-Chek LC-95A is the most used fire retardant in the world. Phos-Chek Tank

Phos-Chek is produced in several colors, including off-white, red iron oxide, and a ''

fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

'' mixture that is red when dispersed but gradually fades to an earth-tone when exposed to sunlight. The red color aids aircrews in targeting drops of retardant. Some of the main components of Phos-Chek retardants include

ammonium polyphosphate Ammonium polyphosphate is an inorganic salt of polyphosphoric acid and ammonia containing both chains and possibly branching. Its chemical formula is H4 PO3sub>n(OH)2 showing that each monomer consists of an orthophosphate radical of a phosphor ...

diammonium phosphate Diammonium phosphate (DAP; IUPAC name diammonium hydrogen phosphate; chemical formula (NH4)2(HPO4) is one of a series of water-soluble ammonium phosphate salts that can be produced when ammonia reacts with phosphoric acid. Solid diammonium phosp ...

, diammonium sulfate,

monoammonium phosphate Ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP), also known as monoammonium phosphate (MAP) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (NH4)(H2PO4). ADP is a major ingredient of agricultural fertilizers and some fire extinguishers. It also has sign ...

, attapulgus clay,

guar gum Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan polysaccharide extracted from guar beans that has thickening and stabilizing properties useful in food, feed, and industrial applications. The guar seeds are mechanically dehusked, hydrated, mil ...

(or a derivative of guar gum), and

trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily ...

performance additives. Fire retardants are manufactured as several different formulations with varying proportions of the above components. The

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

and

sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ...

salts act as

s and prevent

combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combus ...

of cellulosic materials. Phosphate can also act as a

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

once the fire danger has passed.

Guar gum Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan polysaccharide extracted from guar beans that has thickening and stabilizing properties useful in food, feed, and industrial applications. The guar seeds are mechanically dehusked, hydrated, mil ...

and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

are

thickening agent A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid without substantially changing its other properties. Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without altering the ...

s to prevent dispersal of the retardant after it is dropped from the plane. Other ingredients include

corrosion inhibitor In chemistry, a corrosion inhibitor or anti-corrosive is a chemical compound that, when added to a liquid or gas, decreases the corrosion rate of a material, typically a metal or an alloy, that comes into contact with the fluid. The effectiveness ...

s and flow conditioners. Phos-Chek and other retardants based on

ammonium phosphate Ammonium phosphate is the inorganic compound with the formula (NH4)3PO4. It is the ammonium salt of orthophosphoric acid. A related "double salt", (NH4)3PO4.(NH4)2HPO4 is also recognized but is impractical use. Both triammonium salts evolve ammoni ...

may cause

algae bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompasse ...

s in bodies of water when washed downstream and may increase the growth of

invasive plant An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...

species.

Class A foam

Phos-Chek WD-881 is a mixture of anionic surfactants, foam stabilizers, and solvents including hexylene glycol. As a

fire-fighting foam Firefighting foam is a foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, thus achieving suppression of the combustion. Firefighting foam was invented by the Russian engineer and ...

, it is used as a short-term fire suppressant.

History

The first Phos-Chek retardant product was available in 1962, and was the first phosphate-based fire retardant approved by the United States Forest Service. The Phos-Chek brand belonged to the Monsanto Company until 1998, when ownership was transferred to

Solutia Inc. Solutia Inc. was an American manufacturer of materials and specialty chemicals including polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) interlayers for laminated glass, aftermarket window films, prot ...

In 2000, Astaris LLC acquired the Phos-Chek name. In November 2005, Astaris LLC was acquired by Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), and the Phos-Chek brand was renamed "PHOS-CHEK Fire Safety Group" and assigned to the Performance Products division of ICL (ICL PPLP). In 2018, private investment firm SK Capital acquired the Fire Safety and Oil Additives businesses of ICL and renamed it Perimeter Solutions, and the PHOS-CHEK brand was acquired with the business.

Manufacturing

The Airbase Service Center, located in

Post Falls, Idaho Post Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane, Washington. It is a suburb of Coeur d'Alene, to the east, and a bedroom community to Spokane, to the west. The population was 38,485 at the time of the 2020 cens ...

supports all bulk bases (equipment and product support to agency operated bases), SEAT bases (equipment and product support for Single Engine Air Tanker Bases), and Portable Base Operations (mobile rotor and fixed-wing bases). Various equipment maintenance and base rebuilds are performed from this location. Fabrication of liquid concentrate tanks, batch mixers, Hopper Units, and various other equipment is performed from this location.

References

External links

* {{Official, http://perimeter-solutions.com/ Fire suppression agents Flame retardants Aerial firefighting Post Falls, Idaho Companies based in Idaho Companies established in 1962