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?

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 ...

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 ...

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 of ...

Tactical planes often lead tanker planes ... Cal Fire’s fleet of tankers then drops fire retardant onto the terrain below. The Grumman S-2T tanker, with its two turboprop engines, is the ...

Crews battling the deadly Los Angeles wildfires have been dropping a bright pink fire retardant across the city ... dumped across landscapes from planes or helicopters. The phosphate in the ...

which are used for rapid deliveries of fire retardant on wildfires. The planes are based strategically throughout California. North American OV-10A Bronco Air Tactical Aircraft Cal Fire has 16 ...

To do that, firefighting planes and helicopters have dropped a pink fire retardant that extinguishes the flames or slows down their spread. It has left houses, gardens and streets glowing a ...