The revolutionary firefighting invention that's 50 times more effective than water and acts faster: "I've spent half my life trying to get it right."

Every year we witness the heartbreaking images of forests burning, families watching helplessly as the fire ravages their homes and farms. This August, wildfires are leaving a desolate landscape across much of Spain. Fires caused by negligence, accidents, or even arsonists, destroying hundreds of hectares that will take decades to recover. It was precisely these kinds of scenes that prompted César Sallén to invent Ecofire , an innovation that could mark a turning point in the fight against wildfires.

After fifteen years of tireless work— "24/7, as he describes it to ABC —with multiple failures, restarts from scratch, and without receiving public subsidies, Sallén managed to develop a revolutionary product.

"The firefighters from the Huesca Provincial Council have supported me tremendously. Working together, I understood the needs my idea needed to address to be truly useful. This is how Ecofire was born: a 100% organic, biodegradable, edible, completely liquid product that, when manufactured or used, doesn't generate a single gram of waste ," explains Sallén. He set a goal that everything he put into the product wouldn't be harmful to people or the environment.

"One of the main challenges was ensuring the product would last over time , because firefighters told me that fires can return when the wind changes, even to areas that have already been extinguished. But with this product, once you wet a tree or any type of brush in the forest, it can't burn ," the inventor emphasizes. The product sticks and creates a carboxylic layer that nullifies thermal conductivity. It thus breaks the chain reaction generated by the heat of the flame in forest fuels. And by sticking, it also prevents contact with oxygen, which prevents the fire from spreading.

"Two parts of the fire triangle are broken. One is the fuel, which in this case is the trees, and the oxygen. Without that, it can't burn. And the temperature drops because the fire can no longer find anything that can burn or react with it. Even pouring gasoline on it can't burn a pine tree we've sprayed with Ecofire ," says Sallén.

Furthermore, when rainfall exceeds 10 or 15 liters per square meter, the product dissolves naturally and integrates into the soil without leaving any residue.

Firefighters have told him that Ecofire is fifty times more effective than water . "To build a firebreak with this product, I simply need to spray the vegetation. If I do that with water, I pour 500 liters of water, and after ten minutes it's useless. Because when the fire hits, it reaches 700 degrees Celsius, and the water we've poured evaporates. Which in turn means more oxygen," explains the inventor.

This product remains active for months . In other words, what we applied today to the trees, if it hasn't rained for six months , we won't be able to burn that vegetation. " And since it's 50 times more effective than water, it means that with one fire truck equipped with Ecofire, we could do the work of 50 fire trucks. The firefighters, the foresters, those who've seen it are all amazed. And in fact, we're selling a lot of the product outside of Spain; you can buy it at any hardware store, and it's marketed by Simonrack ."

"We've realized that we also turn off the electric batteries in our cars. Years ago, a terrible fire broke out in Guadalajara in a tire yard, generating toxic smoke, similar to that produced in industrial parks or by burning plastic . However, with this product, as soon as it falls on the burning material, it automatically absorbs all the energy and shuts off instantly," Sallén points out.

In fact, thanks to this invention, Spain has achieved a world milestone in firefighting: the complete, safe, and collateral-damage-free extinguishing of a fire caused by electric batteries. The Fast Parcmotor in Castellolí (Barcelona) recently witnessed this feat. ABC Aragón reports that the test, carried out with companies such as SEAT, Iberdrola, Bombers de Barcelona EMT, and Aidive (Spanish Association of Electric Vehicle Chargers), was a complete success and positions Ecofire as the only solution in the world capable of extinguishing lithium battery fires in electric vehicles and preventing their spread , even in closed spaces where there is a risk of chain explosion.

The demonstration successfully extinguished a fire caused by batteries equivalent to two Teslas and an electric car parked in a parking lot, without causing any damage to the vehicle next to it. Its effectiveness is 40 to 100 times greater than that of water and acts 6 to 10 times faster. Furthermore, it requires 8 to 20 times less product than water to extinguish a fire.

It's a life-saving technology. In the future, there's even been talk of developing clothing that includes components of this product . Gloves and boots that firefighters can wear and walk through the flames without getting burned .

He mentions that he also receives many research requests, especially regarding the whole wood issue and the growing desire to build with less water, less cement, and more sustainably. With his brothers, he has previously developed other projects such as smart fences and robots for deactivating explosives.

«Well, I've given up half my life to get this done. I'm not saying that fires won't happen again, but if they can stay within two hectares, and we don't reach these abnormalities that get worse every year, then the truth is I would be more than satisfied with the work done."