As fire crews and air tankers work to block the wildfires' explosive growth, images of red clouds of fire retardant falling onto trees are common. What is it — and what's in it?

In 2021, during a summer vacation in Boston, friends Barrett Deng and Sebastien Burkhardt witnessed something familiar to anyone living in the Bay Area: skies filled with smoke from nearby (or distant ...

A firefighting aircraft drops Phos-Chek pink fire retardant on Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7 (Image credit: Mario Tama/Staff via Getty Images) It's hard to measure the efficiency of fire retardant ...

Besides Cal Fire, multiple agencies have dropped fire retardant and water, including the U.S. Forest Service, the Los Angeles and Ventura county fire departments, the city and the National Guard.

Authorities battling a series of large wildfires in the Los Angeles area have employed a bright red fire retardant to tamp the flames, leading to dramatic images of the material blanketing scores ...

Besides Cal Fire, multiple agencies have dropped fire retardant and water, including the U.S. Forest Service, the Los Angeles and Ventura county fire departments, the city and the National Guard.

Crews battling the deadly Los Angeles wildfires have been dropping a bright pink fire retardant across the city ahead of the advancing flames – leaving some wondering what the substance is ...

It's apparent that these red trails are used to stop the spread of wildfires, but what makes up fire retardant and why is it different than only using water to fight wildfires? The trail of red ...

By Hiroko Tabuchi From above the raging flames, these planes can unleash immense tankfuls of bright pink fire retardant in just 20 seconds. They have long been considered vital in the battle ...

Firefighters in California are battling the historic fires from the sky using a variety of effective and specialized aircraft that dump water and fire retardants over Los Angeles. The state’s ...

Credit: Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg via Getty Images Pink fire retardant is raining from the skies in Los Angeles as firefighters try everything they can to contain several deadly wildfires.