Wildfire defence system

Green firebreaks so that fire arrives without force

Name: WUIProtect
Brand: WUIProtect

WUIProtect® is an active defence tool for the wildland-urban interface (WUI): it keeps perimeter vegetation moist with prescribed irrigation and high-pressure water cannons.

How it works Request information

What is WUIProtect?

A hydraulic network that soaks the perimeter before the fire arrives

WUIProtect is a high-pressure hydraulic network that feeds a series of sprinkler cannons. In the event of a wildfire, the cannons throw water from a tank up to 60 metres away, soaking the vegetation around the edge of the housing estate.

The installation is completed with a firebreak strip 35 to 40 metres wide, which reduces the vegetation on the immediate perimeter and leaves room for the cannons.

Learn more

60 mreach of each cannon
35–40 mfirebreak strip
2006first system installed
2012United Nations Best Practice

Prevention and self-protection

Not a fire-suppression system, but a prevention and self-protection system

WUIProtect does not replace the emergency services: it prepares the ground for them. The aim is that, if the fire arrives, it does so at an intensity that firefighters can control.

The four pillars

Much more than water cannons

WUIProtect® combines four lines of work that reinforce one another.

Planning

Assess the risk and decide what to do, how, when and with which resources.

Discover

Forest management and fire-smart gardening

Turn the surroundings of homes and villages into a line of defence.

Discover

Infrastructure and sensors

Tanks, hydraulic network, cannons and sensors for an active defence.

Discover

Training and education

Risk awareness for residents and specific tactics for professionals.

Discover

Three scales of defence

Collective, domestic or portable

WUIProtect adapts to what needs protecting: a whole community, a single building, or a temporary defence line deployed by emergency services, civil protection or fire brigades.

Collective

Protects the perimeter of housing estates and communities.

Discover

Domestic

Defends a home, a rural guesthouse or an isolated hotel using water from its pool or tank.

Discover

Portable

The Zapadores unit: deployed wherever needed and fed from any water source.

Discover

Track record

Twenty years defending the wildland-urban interface

2005
The project is born in Carcaixent with the first draft of the design and installation project.
2006
First major project at the Santa Marina estate, which helped protect homes during the June 2016 fire.
2012
The El Vedat de Torrent project is recognised as a United Nations Best Practice in Dubai.
2019
The Parador de Cruz de Tejeda installation (Gran Canaria) proves its effectiveness during a wildfire. Medi XXI joins GUARDIAN as a partner.
2022
GUARDIAN completes the largest wildfire defence installation in Europe in the Túria Natural Park.
2025
GUARDIAN’s cannon towers, supplied with reclaimed water, are activated during the Riba-roja de Túria wildfire.

GUARDIAN project · Túria Natural Park, 2022

The largest wildfire defence installation in Europe

An EU project of green urban actions for the resilient fire defence of the interface area, in which Medi XXI GSA has been a partner since 2019. Its cannon towers, supplied with reclaimed water, were activated during the 2025 Riba-roja de Túria wildfire.

GUARDIAN project website

Video