As fire crews and air tankers work to block the wildfires' explosive growth, images of red clouds of fire retardant falling onto trees are common. What is it — and what's in it?

Its design pulls in oxygen from the surrounding air when it explodes, giving it a stronger blast wave than conventional weapons that carry an oxygen mixture in their explosive payloads.

Aftermath of the 2020 ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. Description: Invented by Alfred Nobel in 1866, the explosive component of dynamite is a stabilized form of TNT. TNT Equivalent ...

Ammonium nitrate is commonly used as an agricultural fertiliser but is also potentially explosive. Its presence in the waters of the busy city of Abidjan - home to more than six million people ...

Ammonium nitrate is still associated with tragedies such as the explosion in the port of Beirut in 2020. Of the 20,000 tonnes transported by the Zimrida, some 7,656 tonnes are destined for an ...

Ammonium nitrate is commonly used as an agricultural fertiliser, but is also a compound in explosives. Its presence in the waters off the busy city of Abidjan home to more than six million people has ...

A potentially explosive Russian fertiliser cargo that ... The cargo of 20,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate reached the port of Abidjan in Ivory Coast on board the 37,300-dwt Zimrida (built 2008 ...