Viscous water and algin gel as fire control materials
| Authors: | James B. Davis, Dean L. Dibble, Clinton B. Phillips, Robert S. McBride |
| Year: | 1962 |
| Type: | Technical Paper |
| Station: | Pacific Southwest Research Station |
| Source: | Technical Paper No. 71. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, California Forest and Range Experiment Station. 29 p. |
Abstract
Have you ever tried to use paint that had too much thinner? If you have, you know that it drips and runs. But paint that is “just right” stays in place. This property of a liquid that causes it to adhere to a solid surface--viscosity--is also valuable for materials used in coating the surface of fuels to retard and suppress wildfires.
Viscous water and algin gel are two new materials designed to “stay put” on fuels. They have been tested extensively to determine their characteristics and their effectiveness on different types of fuels. They are only two of many chemicals being investigated to find more efficient fire-control materials (Davis, Dibble, and Phillips 1961).
This report describes the characteristics and uses of viscous water and algin gel in laboratory and field tests and in trials on more than 200 forest and wildland fires over a 2-year period.