SAN DIEGO – San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson’s office announced Tuesday that the county has contracted with a long-term fire retardant provider, whose product has already been used in a fire-prone area of East County.

The company, Perimeter Solutions, will provide San Diego County with PROS-CHEK FORTIFY, a long-term fire retardant that officials hope will reduce the number and severity of vegetation and brush fires in the area through the county’s Roadside Vegetation Management for Evacuation Preparedness Program.

“Keeping San Diego County residents safe from wildfires is one of my top priorities, and it is critical that we take advantage of new technologies that help us to be more proactive with our wildfire prevention efforts,” Supervisor Joel Anderson said in a news release. “I’d like to thank County Fire staff, CAL-FIRE, and Perimeter Solutions for working together to apply this fire retardant alongside Wildcat Canyon Road—the connection between Lakeside and Barona that has a devastating history with wildfires.”

According to Anderson’s office, the retardant is applied onto flammable brush and material before the major fire season.

“We are proud that San Diego County has selected Perimeter Solutions to partner with them to help save lives and protect property,” says Wes Bolsen, Business Director of Wildfire Prevention and Protection at Perimeter Solutions, said in the release. “We applaud them for their initiative in developing a proactive strategy to prevent wildfires and believe they have developed a model that can be adopted by communities throughout the Western United States and other areas impacted by wildfire.”

More than 79% of unincorporated San Diego County is at high risk or very high risk of experiencing a wildfire, according to the release, and wildfires have damaged more than 40% of the unincorporated area since 2000.