Burned by the Earth – Science Poem

While the ashes fall
And the sun scarf,
There are bitter marks left –
Scattered metals
Screw into the skin of the earth,
Quiet poison
It is etched with invisible hands.
The wind carries the rest
Although it’s calm
When the flames are loosening,
Path engraving
Through the skin of the soil,
Leaching into the root thread
Without you realising it, you thirst.
On the hollow ground,
Residues wait –
spooling
It finds its way
To the bone water,
I can’t see,
It’s still heavy.

This poem is inspired Recent researchit was found that wildfire inhibitors contain toxic metals.

Wildfires are becoming more frequent and more severe in the American West, with the increasing use of fire extinguishing products such as long-term fire extinguishing agents, water enhancers and class A foams. While these products are essential for controlling wildfires, their formulations are often protected as trade secrets, making it difficult to fully understand the environmental impact. After the wildfires, higher levels of metal were detected in soil and surface water, particularly near areas where the wilderness encounters urban development. This is usually linked to ashes from burnt vegetation and contamination from nearby cities. However, the role of fire extinguishing products in contributing to these metal concentrations has largely been overlooked.

This study examined metal concentrations in several firefighting products, including those approved by the U.S. Forest Service and those available for consumer use. It was found that long-term shooting agents contain toxic metals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium, at levels up to 2,880 times more than permitted in drinking water. These concentrations can exceed aquatic lifetime safety thresholds and pose risks to local ecosystems when released into the environment. In contrast, water enhancers and class A forms contained lower metal concentrations. This study estimated that between 2009 and 2021, approximately 380,000 kilograms of toxic metals were introduced into the environment due to the use of fire retardants in the United States.