Right now air tankers are flying the skies above the western United States where wildfires threaten homes. When these massive firefighting airplanes drop gallons and gallons of retardant, it can seem like the cavalry has arrived.
The problem is, retardant — like many other top-down or last-ditch government efforts — is often wildly ineffective.
Two years ago, I was assigned as a lookout with my hotshot crew on the Saddle Fire, a wildfire that threatened the southern Utah mountain community of Pine Valley for several weeks. I watched as drops of retardant completely missed targets or dropped into thick tree canopies, where it is useless.