Several measures of protection against fires have been adopted to minimize the negative effects of fire. Products have been tested and applied in the conservation of moisture in fuel avoiding or delaying spread of fire. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of a water-retaining polymer to keep the fuel dead moisture at different dosages of application, aiming at using it as fire retardant. Forty plots of 1m x 1m with 1.2 kg of grass (Melinis minutiflora P. Beauv.) each, evenly distributed were made. It was a mixture with concentration of 0.1 g / l of the product at doses of 0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 l / m². The study was conducted in a split-plot design with five replicates each and 16 subplots. The capacity of water-retention was measured by the difference from the wet weight and dry weight of the material after being dried in an oven. The mean values were statistically different in Tukey test at 5% probability but they did not show any correlation with the sequence of values of the treatments. Treatment 6 was the one with the highest mean moisture (35.50%) while the control showed the lowest value (27.80%). The use of water-retaining gel did present significant increase of moisture to the fuel over the days, at the tested doses and environmental conditions the study, determining that this product is not recommended for preventing fire.
Fire retardant; Hidroretentor gel; Fuel
