Cal Fire plane unnecessarily drops fire retardant on Windsor neighborhood

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A Cal Fire air tanker flying to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport somehow unloaded pink fire retardant on a Windsor neighborhood early this afternoon.

About 100 gallons of the liquid fell on about a dozen homes and cars in the 300 block of Decanter Circle in southwest Windsor, which lies within a flight path of the airport, Windsor police Sgt. Andy Cash said.

Neighbors took the incident in stride, joking good heartedly about free car washes and pink sidewalks.

The Cal Fire plane was either heading to or returning from a fire call to Petaluma but was not needed after all, Cash said.

Town of Windsor employees responded to make sure the pink stuff didn't enter any waterways.

Windsor Fire Protection District firefighters helped wash vehicles and clean up the fire retardant.

Pink fire retardant known as Phos-Chek is routinely used by aircraft in fighting wildfires and is about 85 percent water.

Cal Fire did not respond to calls about the incident this afternoon.