By the time it approached Greenville and the surrounding California towns served by Indian Valley Fire Rescue, the Dixie Fire was big and moving fast. Burning for 11 days, it had consumed nearly 180,000 acres and was already California’s largest fire of the active 2021 season. It was less than 20% contained.
The 15 members of Indian Valley Fire Rescue leapt into action, rushing out to battle the flames and protect the areas under threat. Left unprotected was their own historic firehouse, built in the 1940s. It was not only the department’s headquarters, but also a place where members of the small community often gathered.
“We were out so busy taking care of other people’s houses and structures,” fire association President Will Meyers said afterward, “that we didn’t have time to get Engine 26 out.”
The station burned to the ground, as did the homes of at least four firefighters.
In the remote woods of Northern California, “You are your own first responder,” Meyers added. “We try to help best we can, but we just do not have the resources.”
WFS net can protect homes and structures
Wildfire is an equal-opportunity adversary. It can burn homes, businesses and critical infrastructure and – as California’s 2025 Palisades fire showed – victimize those across the economic spectrum.
Firefighters do what they can, but need can still outstrip resources. That shifts the burden of protection, at least partially, to the owners of at-risk homes and property.
That’s where International Carbide Technology AB (INCA AB) comes in. The Swedish company offers a novel, flexibly deployable mesh product that stops flames and heat, and a supporting system that can provide comprehensive protection against the growing threat of wildfire.
The mesh, known as WFS net, can protect private homes, government facilities and key infrastructure, from power poles and cell towers to firehouses like Indian Valley’s. In a different configuration, it can also protect individual firefighters.
The system, known as WFS Selfguarding, is multilayered fire-defense system that supports WFS net with ground sensors to monitor for burning, AI cameras for postfire hotspot and flare-up monitoring, a drone interface and software to drive it all.
“It’s all very multifunctional – only your imagination sets the limits,” said Nils Wenne, INCA AB’s founder and CEO. “We’ve been working on this for many years because we don’t want the world to see more disasters like we saw this year in California.”
That’s a legitimate fear. In the U.S., wildfires have increased in both frequency and intensity in recent years; since the early 2000s, the total area burned has increased fourfold in the West and more than sevenfold in the Great Plains. Globally the number of extreme wildfires has more than doubled in the last 20 years.
Work on the INCA WFS product dates back more than a decade. WFS net is an intumescent product made of expandable graphite, which is created by treating high-purity flake graphite with an acidic solution that penetrates its graphene layers. The resulting product is just 0.5–0.8 millimeters thick. When it’s exposed to high heat, the acid decomposes into gases that rapidly expand, increasing the net to 30–50 times its original volume and creating an effective barrier to heat and oxygen.
This process releases carbon dioxide and steam that aren’t hot because they’re not created by fire.
“If you expose this product to fire from 750 to 900-plus degrees Celsius for 60 minutes,” Wenne said, “it will still be below 200 degrees five centimeters on the nonburning side.”
Surface fires involving grass, leaves and shrubs typically burn at 315 to 600 degrees Celsius.
With that functionality comes flexibility: The net can be used in a number of ways, from wrapping poles to covering the ground. In Sweden it’s being built into the eaves of new homes and affixed to attic walls like curtains. It can be mounted on wheeled carriages for temporary setup around burning areas and added to fences at property edges. An especially novel use involves creating a “box” around firefighters that can help them move safely around scenes.
This video shows WFS net in action.
WFS Selfguarding components enhance fire protection
WFS net can be used alone or serve as the foundation of broader approach to fire protection. The WFS Selfguarding system adds several additional protective components.
Protection begins with ground sensors that can be placed throughout properties and warn owners of the increasing heat and dryness that can elevate fire risk. Powered by batteries that can last a decade, they can provide immediate notification of danger. They are ruggedly designed and require no maintenance.
How many sensors are needed depends on terrain and relative risk level. “If you put 200 meters between them, I think that could be enough,” said Wenne, “but there’s no exact figure – it depends on several factors.”
Once a fire has passed, AI-powered cameras can help ensure things remain extinguished. Designed for high-accuracy detection and monitoring outdoors or in, they offer 250-meter ranges and 360-degree fields of vision, ensuring no blind spots, and can adapt to changing lighting conditions. Like the sensors, they can provide automatic alerts to early signs of trouble.
Integratable with existing systems and compatible with various drone makes and models, the INCA BRAIN system equips drones for advanced fire monitoring. It attaches sensors like LiDAR, weather stations and thermal imaging and provides preventive analytics for mapping and planning. It can also function autonomously – making its own self-guided decisions in dynamic circumstances.
INCA AB’s WFS software provides a central point of operations, combining real-time data from sensors, drones and satellites to help inform optimal decision-making. Predictive analytics can help determine countermeasures, and simple interfaces govern the tracking of personnel and assets. The software also allows remote setup and configuration of sensors.
Commanders interface with these capabilities through a web-based dashboard that serves them live and historical data for a thorough picture of incidents and scenes. Data is securely stored in the cloud.
For those in the field, the WFS Selfguarding system can deliver information via an app on mobile devices, smart watches or AI glasses. INCA AB also offers a two-day training to help leaders optimize command and control of its system, as well as two-hour sessions for operational staff.
The growing wildfire challenge: ‘We have to do it together’
INCA reminds clients that they have a role to play in their own protection too – through familiar measures like wetting everything thoroughly when fire approaches and keeping vegetation cut back from structures. Meanwhile, the company continues to grow its WFS suite; its next round of advances should include robotics to aid deployment and monitoring.
The system has been introduced in multiple European countries, with a growing foothold in South America. It’s still new to America, but the dramatic recent rise in the size and destructiveness of wildfires has created a need for new solutions. And its modularity makes it well suited for both private property owners and public entities conscious of budgets: INCA WFS net can function alone or serve as a platform for developing the fuller system.
The company also encourages creativity and discovering new uses for its novel mesh.
“We want to supply WFS net, but we also want people to see other opportunities and possibilities to create totally new products,” said Wenne. “None of us can solve this problem alone – we have to do it together.”
WFS and WFS net are registered trademarks of International Carbide Technology AB.
For more information, visit INCA AB.
