Investment opportunity

“Wildfires Raise Demand for Slurry


By Alisa Blackwood
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 7, 2002 Washington Post

PHOENIX –– An early and intense wildfire season in the West is giving a boost to companies that manufacture the fire retardant slurry that is dropped on flames from the belly of aerial tankers.

Fire-Trol Holdings LLC of Phoenix sold about 20 million gallons of the bright red retardant across the country in 2001, and is running far ahead of that this year, said Robert Crouch, Fire-Trol's research and development manager.

"We're way ahead. There's one single air tanker base in Sierra Vista (Ariz.) that's used 2 million gallons alone, and that's about 10 times their annual average," he said. "We anticipate an unusually severe fire season."

Crouch said the company takes no joy in the fires – "We'd rather see fire prevention," he said – but acknowledges that it means boom times for his company.

Fire-Trol has contracts with the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the state of California to churn out the concentrated mix of chemical fertilizer that is then added to water to make retardant.

"When these fertilizers decompose at the temperature of the fire, it actually reduces the amount of flammable gases the fire gives off," Crouch said. "And If it doesn't do its job as a retardant, it'll promote plant growth after the fire has been put out."

As with lawn fertilizer, slurry should not be dumped in streams and lakes because the ammonia in it is toxic for fish and wildlife.

Fire-Trol and St. Louis-based Astaris LLC are the Forest Service's main retardant suppliers, said Frank Gomez, the agency's contracting officer.

Each company has a one-year contract with two renewal options to supply air bases around the country with retardant as needed. The retardant sells for about $800 a ton.

George Roby, agency liaison for Ontario, Calif.-based Phos-Check, whose parent company is Astaris, said his company is expecting above-average demand.

Fire-retardant-dropping aircraft have helped battle blazes in the last week in parts of California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.

At a southern Arizona wildfire that burned 30,500 acres by Thursday, crews dumped 1.2 million gallons of retardant. Air crews had to drop slurry because ground crews could not enter the deep and dangerous terrain, said Danny Randall, a bureau spokesman.



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Fire-trol is evidently a privately held company. But Phos-chek is made by Astaris LLC, which is a joint venture between FMC Corporation (symbol FMC) and Solutia Inc. (symbol SOI).

This may be an opportunity to profit from the drought-caused severe fire season.”

“What a bunch of BS, I can't buy oil or gold through E-Trade. If we go to war, those are two commodities that will certainly jump!

Damn!”

“should have bought those Krugerands ( sp? )”