Toxicity of PHOS-CHEK LC-95A and 259F fire retardants to ocean- and stream-type Chinook salmon and their potential to recover before seawater entry
Abstract
Long-term fire retardants are used to prevent the spread of wildland fire, but have inadvertently entered aquatic habitats and resulted in fish kills. We examined the toxicity of two fire retardant products; PHOS-CHEK 259F and LC-95A, on Chinook salmon with two different life histories, ocean-type and stream-type, at different stages of their development. Ocean-type Chinook outmigrate to the ocean as subyearlings; while, stream-type salmon overwinter in freshwater and outmigrate as yearlings. Ocean-type and stream-type salmon were exposed to the fire retardants prior to their parr to smolt transition (presmolts) as subyearlings (stream-type and ocean-type) and yearlings (stream-type only), as well as during their transition (smolts). The salmon were exposed to eight concentrations of each retardant and a control for 96h to determine acute toxicity. Lethal concentration curves were modeled by logistic regression for each life history and life stage exposed to the two fire retardants. Among all life histories and life stages tested, PHOS-CHEK 259F was most toxic to stream-type salmon at smolt stage and PHOS-CHEK LC-95A was most toxic to ocean-type salmon at smolt stage. To determine the delayed effects of product exposures on fish health as well as for the potential of recovery, 24-hour seawater challenges were performed immediately after fire retardant exposure, as well as after a recovery period. Previous PHOS-CHEK exposure reduced survival during seawater challenge among salmon from both life histories undergoing the parr-smolt transition and was more pronounced after PHOS-CHEK LC-95A exposure. However, this delayed effect was not observed 34 or more days after either PHOS-CHEK exposure. We conclude that accidental PHOS-CHEK LC-95A or 259F drops during salmon outmigration would have adverse impacts that extend beyond the acute mortality that occurs within the immediate drop and dilution areas.
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No national estimates of the health impacts of smoke exposure exist.
“No national estimates of the health impacts of smoke exposure exist, however using the estimate from Johnston et al. and an assumed VSI for the types of injuries associated with smoke exposure, an initial estimate is possible.75”
From The costs and losses of wildfires: a literature survey (2017) · cites this paper as [75]
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References 30 · Cited by 15
- Authors
- Dietrich, J. P., Van Gaest, A. L., Strickland, S. A., Hutchinson, G. P., Krupkin, A. B., & Arkoosh, M. R.
- Affiliations
- NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (US)
- Corresponding author
- Dietrich, Joseph P.
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-08
- Volume
- 490
- Pages
- 610-621
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2023569393
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 0.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (#10-IA-11130206-046)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Keywords
- flame retardants, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, life history, life stages, acute toxicity, smolts, lagged effects, fish kills, wildfire suppression, recovery
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Environmental Monitoring, Flame Retardants, Phosphates, Polyphosphates, Salmon, Seawater, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Ecosystem, Rivers, Ammonium Compounds
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