Melting plastic material from under hood.

[slipnfall]

Hi everyone, The stuff that's on the underside of the hood: I keep finding it melting onto my plastic intake pipe. It leaves a brown oily residue. What's the deal with this? I was told a while back that this stuff is supposed to melt in the event of an engine fire, to help extinguish it. Is this true? I'm wondering if my underhood temps are too high, or that plastic stuff is no good. Is it safe to remove it? Do they make aftermarket replacements?

-Jamie