What is WUIProtect? How does it work?
The basis of the defense against fires in the natural environment is Sustainable Forest Management. It means managing forests to take care of them, to guarantee their continuity, to benefit society with the quantity and quality of products they provide today, and at the same time, the management of this renewable resource guarantees that these forests will be available for future generations. Utilization, without overexploitation.
At Medi XXI GSA we have developed Advanced Sustainable Forest Management techniques, incorporating concepts such as maximizing the water resource available to the plants to make it difficult for them to burn virulently. Working in the forest at a pace that ensures its health, preventing fires, while maintaining its biodiversity, regeneration capacity and ability to fulfill its ecological, social and economic functions.
Medi XXI GSA
We are a Valencian company (from the Upper Ribera del Júcar River) called Medio XXI GSA and SIDEINFO® is one of our innovative projects.
WUIProtect® is the acronym for Forest Fire Defense System and is a project to protect natural spaces, people and homes against fire (developed entirely by us) in which we have been working since 2006. All technical and manufacturing production is national. . We are an environmental and agroforestry engineering consultancy that provides services to people, companies, public administrations, and organizations on a national and international scale with more than 20 years of experience in different types of projects. This project focuses on the so-called “Urban – Forest Interface” or contact zone between populated areas and forest areas that may be affected by a fire.
Estructura de WUIProtect
Preventive, emergency and self-protection planning.
The first component of our system consists of preparing technical documentation describing the proposed solutions from all dimensions of the problem (economic, social, environmental and technical), at all-time scales (before, during and after the fire) and geographic scales (landscape, core, building), as well as administrative and financing solutions. Good planning is the basis for a good defense against forest fires.
Medi XXI GSA has prepared hundreds of technical documents on preventive (before the fire starts), operational (emergency response and self-protection guidelines) and post-fire (restoration). Our team also trains professionals of the Emergency Services (Firefighters, Spanish Military Emergency Unit, civil protection…) and incorporates their operational experience in the planning.
Preventive forest management and fire – resistant gardening.
From the area to be protected outwards (towards the mountain) we use forestry. From the area to be protected inward (urban area) we use fire – resistant gardening. Silviculture (from the Latin Silva, forest, and culture, cultivation) is the science of caring for and cultivating forests. The analysis of forest systems and their functioning, the design of the establishment of a tree stand in a given area, its composition and development make up a discipline that aims to manage forest areas to protect them and adapt them to disturbances (pests, fires…) of natural or anthropogenic origin. In the case of WUIProtect, planned preventive silviculture actions are carried out in forest areas to generate defensible spaces that prevent fire from impacting beyond the extinction capacity (when the fire exceeds the forest firefighters). The objective is that this does not happen. We try to ensure that in the event of a fire, the fire reaches the area within its capacity.
To achieve this protection objective, we also work with the discipline of pyrogardening. This preventive gardening against forest fires or “pyrogardening” can be defined as gardening oriented to the creation of ornamental vegetation structures associated with populated areas (Wildland – Urban Interface – WUI) resistant to the passage of fire (pyro-resistant plant structures). With both silviculture and pyrogardening Medi XXI GSA proposes irrigation prescription guidelines for the maintenance of the fuel (vegetation) under certain ranges of availability focused on the environmental dimension of the problem. That is why it is important to Advanced Sustainable Forest Management.
Execution of the planning and creation of infrastructures.
Preventing forest fires is possible. Technically, scenarios can be designed to avoid high intensity fires that can destroy the ecosystem or homes that proliferate throughout the territory. The Medi XXI GSA team is a national and international reference in the field of prevention and defense against forest fires. In 2012 the United Nations Organization to the team for the sustainable defense of populated areas in contact with forest areas (Wildland -Urban Interface – WUI). From extensive livestock farming, to agricultural crops, through green firebreaks, prescribed irrigation or silviculture, the whole toolbox we develop is oriented to the protection of forests and their ecological, social and economic functions.
Once the actions have been planned and the vegetation has been managed, it is time to implement the rest of the infrastructures. From the construction of water reservoirs to increase the VMW (Volume of Movilizable Water), to the hydraulic infrastructure to take it to where it will be most needed, including pumping, command and control equipment, the Medi XXI GSA team is specialized in advanced hydraulics against forest fires. All this infrastructure (muscle) is controlled and monitored by a wireless sensory network of sensors located in the trees and managed via our WUIProtect® NETSense™ (brain) platform. We also install signage for hydrants, evacuation routes, or evacuee reception centers… both physical and virtual (augmented reality, dynamic signage…).
Forestry training and education.
Many people live in high wildfire risk areas but are unaware. Situational awareness is key to achieve a sufficient level of self-protection. Therefore, through training and education in forestry, the team tries to provide knowledge to the owners of houses, industries or businesses in risk areas (and therefore owners of the risk to which that house or business is exposed) to improve situational awareness and the ability to respond to a forest fire.
In parallel, we train professionals. More than 20 years of training and practical experience have led us to train hundreds of people in the field of emergency services. The defense of populated areas requires specific tactics for an adequate operational response. From preventive planning or self-protection, through advanced hydraulics, fire management, or fire simulation, our team develops training actions aimed at improving the ability to respond to a forest fire emergency.
Circular economy – reclaimed water
All WUIProtect projects apply circular economy criteria in terms of inputs, water and energy. We take advantage of regenerated water (recycling) from the population centers themselves and we take advantage of the energy we extract from the forest in the form of biomass (renewable resource). We take advantage of the integral water cycle in the Wildland Urban – Interface (WUI) zones. With prescribed irrigation we locally modify temperature and relative humidity conditions, and with vegetation we condition wind speed in impact zones. Recycled water allows us to keep firebreaks green and reduce the risk of forest fires with active management.