Nitrate Poisoning, Fire Retardants, and Fertilizers: Any Connection?

Fire retardants used in combating forest and range fires have been accused of killing livestock by nitrate poisoning. Ammonia-based retardants cannot cause nitrate poisoning directly. They must first enter the soil, be converted to nitrates, then be absorbed and accumulated by plants. This process occurs only under special climatic conditions and requires two to three weeks. The possibility of injury to livestock from fire retardant materials is very slight-much less than that from a range or pasture fertilization program.