by FSEEE | Jan 5, 2026 | Dispatch, Fire Truth
During New Mexico’s largest-ever wildfire — the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, slurry bombers made nearly 2,500 retardant drops, primarily Phos-Chek, to combat the blaze. Phos-Chek is the bright red fire retardant featured on news reels to convey a visually...
by FSEEE | Nov 22, 2025 | Briefly, Fire Truth
During the 2020 fire season, retardant-laden slurry bombers were scrambled to attack a small fire in Alberta’s mountains. One payload of Phos-Chek fire retardant was delivered directly into North Racehorse Creek, turning the stream red. University of Alberta...
by Joe Stone | Nov 1, 2025 | Fire Truth, In Depth
Piñon-juniper woodlands may not inspire the kind of awe that people experience among the redwoods of California or the old-growth Douglas-fir trees of the Pacific Northwest, but piñon-juniper forests are one of the most extensive ecosystems in western North America...
by FSEEE | Oct 4, 2025 | Briefly, Fire Truth
Mass layoffs, deferred resignation offers, and other policies from a hostile administration eliminated record numbers of Forest Service employees earlier this year. Firefighters were supposedly exempt from these job cuts, but Forest Service firefighters, already...
by FSEEE | Sep 4, 2025 | Briefly, Fire Truth
Regarded as “one of the most significant ecological crises facing land managers in the arid West,” invasive cheatgrass has increased fire frequency in the Great Basin from once every 30-70 years to every 3-10 years. As Aldo Leopold observes in A Sand County Almanac,...
