Fighting Fire with Innovation: XFire Innovation Challenge

The XFire Innovation Challenge is a competition aimed at finding a better way to suppress forest fires in inland and peatland forest in Southeast Asia. Launched in September 2018, the Challenge aims to reduce deforestation, carbon emission, respiratory health issues and economic loss caused by forest fires and resultant haze. The Challenge was conducted in three phases; Phase I - Proof of Concept, Phase II - Prototyping and Phase III - Pilot Testing. The Challenge’s panel of judges received 38 entries from around the world in Phase I. It came down to 2 teams in Phase III and they tested out their innovations in the Klias Forest Reserve, Sabah, in March 2022.
The panel of judges announced Team PUSPEK, the R&D arm of Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia, as the main winner of the XFire Innovation Challenge. They were awarded a prize of RM200,000, and a grant of RM100,000 to further improve and develop their innovation. Team UNBURN was announced as the runner-up and awarded a grant of RM100,000 to further improve and develop their innovation.
It is our hope that the Challenge will shine a light on the issue of forest fire in Southeast Asia and bring about a change that will ultimately reduce its devastating effect on both human wellbeing and the biodiversity we all depend on.