What is the orange material that I see them spraying out of the helicopters onto these huge wildfires?

Question: It's kind of a reddish-orange color. Do they also use water...or will water just not accomplish much in those situations?

Answer: Flame retardant is often used to fight fire. This could be a foaming agent that makes the water more "sticky" so it would be more effective at putting out the fire. Foaming agent is usually added in small quantity to a large volume of water. The coloring agent is so that the pilot would have a visual cue as to what area was treated so as to not waste the next load on top of the first.

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