Formulate with purpose.
Evaluate how ingredients work together, balancing fire-retarding performance with flow, stability and material compatibility.
Chemistry + physical propertiesWildland fire retardant development
New fire
retardants.
Thoughtful chemistry. Consistent mixing. Careful testing.
Narline is working on new formulations for wildland firefighting—with the practical demands of manufacturing and use in mind.
See our approach
Formulation / Mixing / Manufacturing / TestingBuilt around the details
01
The purpose
Slow the spread.
Give crews more time.
Fire retardants help reduce how quickly vegetation burns and how intensely a fire moves through treated fuel.
More than water alone
Water absorbs heat as it evaporates. Long-term retardants also use active ingredients that interfere with combustion, so their effect can continue after the water has dried.
Part of a larger effort
Retardant can be applied ahead of a fire to help slow its advance. Its effectiveness depends on the formulation, coverage, weather and terrain—and the work of the crews on the ground.
02 / Our approach
The formula is
just the beginning.
We’re developing with the whole process in mind: how a material is made, mixed, stored, measured and eventually put to use.
Make the mix consistent.
Concentration, mixing time and the order of addition can change the result. A useful formulation needs a repeatable process and checks that show the batch is uniform.
Concentration + viscosity + uniformityPlan for manufacturing.
Moving beyond a small batch means controlling raw materials, recording each lot and checking that storage and handling haven’t changed the product.
Batch records + quality controlMeasure. Learn. Refine.
Compare results, understand what changed and use that evidence to improve the next formulation. Testing has to guide the work from the start.
Documented results + deliberate iteration
The practical questions
Good chemistry has
to work in a mixture.
A formulation can look promising on paper and behave differently once it is mixed. How easily does it disperse? Does the thickness stay consistent? What happens after storage?
Those details matter when developing a material that needs to move through pumps, remain uniform and be applied predictably.
What we need to evaluate03 / Evaluation
Performance is
something to prove.
Our development work needs to address more than how a formula behaves around fire. Handling, compatibility and environmental effects belong in the same conversation.
Fire performance
How effectively does the treatment reduce combustion? How does it perform once the water has evaporated?
Material behavior
Measure properties such as viscosity, density and pH. Evaluate stability and potential corrosion of equipment materials.
Environmental effects
Understand ingredient hazards, exposure and effects on living systems. Environmental evaluation is part of responsible product development.
We are at the development stage, with formal qualification and operational evaluation still ahead.
04 / Let’s talk
Working on
the same questions?
We’d like to hear from people with experience in fire chemistry, testing and manufacturing.
Contact Narline eli.janes@narline.com