A fire retardant is a substance other than water that reduces flammability of fuels or delays their combustion. This typically refers to chemical retardants but may also include substances that work by physical action, such as cooling the fuels; examples of these include fire-fighting foams and fire-retardant gels. The name fire retardant may also be applied to substances used to coat an object, such as a spray retardant to prevent Christmas trees from burning. Fire retardants are commonly used in fire fighting.
Home fires damage about 400,000 homes, and cause just under 7 billion US dollars in direct damage annually in the United States. Because of the importance of prevention, fire retardation has become a very notable industry.
Read more about Fire Retardant: How Retardants Work, Environmental Concerns
Famous quotes containing the word fire:
“Examples are cited by soldiers, of men who have seen the cannon pointed, and the fire given to it, and who have stepped aside from he path of the ball. The terrors of the storm are chiefly confined to the parlour and the cabin.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)