Are fish actually safe from fire? With cyanide falling from the sky, maybe not…

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Fire retardant saves lives - quality lives, wood animals' lives, adjacent bugs lives - but what astir the food who are submerged successful h2o and harmless from the menace of catching ablaze?

According to the USDA, occurrence retardant contains astir 85% water, 10% fertilizer, and 5% insignificant ingredients.

Despite their label, these insignificant ingredients could person large consequences. Minor ingredients see colorants, corrosion inhibitors, thickeners, stabilizers, and bactericides.

The USGS says definite corrosion inhibitors incorporate sodium ferrocyanide, besides known arsenic Yellow Prussiate of Soda (YPS), a brackish that releases cyanide erstwhile exposed to sunlight.

Although the quantity is not capable to straight harm humans, studies suggest that YPS causes important toxicity to fish. 

Laboratory tests by the USGS showed that mortality commonly occurred wrong lone a fewer hours of vulnerability to the chemic successful the beingness of sunlight.

The tests included dosing artificial streams with antithetic concentrations of the retardent to mimic the vulnerability of the chemic that runs disconnected into streams aft rainfall.

Every food died successful the experimentation erstwhile sunlight was introduced.