New Super Gel Helps Prevent Wildfires and Rescues Plants and Animals

Scientists from Stanford, California have developed a biodegradable gel based on the natural plant fiber cellulose that helps prevent the ever-increasing number of wildfires throughout the fire-prone season.

Climate change has played a massive role in the escalation of wildfires, taking lives, destroying homes, and burning forests along the way. Though firefighters use retardants, they typically dissipate after rain or wind, rendering them ineffective.

But Eric Appel, lead researcher of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and his team worked with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to test the new gel material, discovering that it provided 100 percent protection against fire even after half an inch of rain.

Appel explains that most wildfires happen time and time again in specific high-risk areas, adding, “With the right tool in hand, you would only need to treat a small amount of land—not large swathes of the forest—to prevent most fires from occurring in the first place.”