Ligne de vie, issue 1: fifty years of women firefighters, from Réunion to Cape Town
On 25 October 1976, a decree opened France’s municipal fire brigades to women. Exactly fifty years later, our association is publishing the first issue of Ligne de vie, a magazine exploring the history of fire and rescue services in Réunion and the Indian Ocean. Its main feature focuses on women in fire and rescue.
Download issue 1
Ligne de vie, issue 1, October 2026 — 40 pages, PDF (5 MB), free to download.
Inside the main feature
Revisiting the decree. Decree No. 76-1007 was not solely concerned with women: it introduced broader reforms to the statutory framework governing municipal firefighters. Yet one provision changed the institution: fire brigades “may comprise both male and female personnel”. The decree did not mark the beginning of women’s involvement; it gave that involvement a legal framework.
Four careers in Réunion. Gilberte Pothin: teacher, first aider, volunteer firefighter and the island’s first female fire officer. Marie-Nelle Payet: Réunion’s first female professional firefighter, who took command of the Étang-Salé fire station in 1991. Odile Lery: chief medical officer of Réunion’s departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS) from January 1991. Laëtitia Heries: twenty-one years in fire service administration, now heading the office responsible for volunteer firefighters’ careers.
Three profiles from Cape Town. Adel Supra-Vertue, Cindy Theron and Thobeka Senatse of the Cape Town Fire & Rescue Service describe different organisational structures and working conditions, alongside familiar concerns: earning recognition, endurance, technical competence and access to command roles.
Fifty years on. Women account for 23% of civilian firefighters in France (DGSCGC, 2024 figures). Their representation is higher in the health and medical rescue service, but few women hold the most senior leadership positions.
An open question: the first woman to serve as chief medical officer of an SDIS?
A document published in early 1992 establishes that Odile Lery had been serving as chief medical officer of Réunion’s SDIS since January 1991. The association’s research has found no earlier example of a woman holding this position in an SDIS among the national sources consulted; the next precisely dated case identified is from 2004. The possibility that she was the first in France remains to be confirmed. Any document that could support or disprove this hypothesis is welcome.
Beyond the main feature
The issue opens with a foreword by Inspector General Bertrand Vidot, director of Réunion’s SDIS. It also presents the museum project, the “Au feu les pompiers !” exhibition and the association’s publications, including Histoire des sapeurs-pompiers de La Réunion and Tenir sa place, which tells the story of Bernard Acar. It introduces the project “Road Accidents in Réunion: Remembering to Save Lives”, ahead of the sixtieth anniversary of the ravine des Poux accident on 28 March 1967.
The heritage section explores the 1950 Laffly fire engine, listed as a historic monument in 2025, the hand-operated fire pump, cyclones and the challenges of providing emergency services on an island. The final article tells the story behind Le Flambeau, the song created by recruit class 01-2026 of Réunion’s SDIS.
Six online profiles, published every Sunday
From 1 November to 6 December 2026, a new profile from Réunion will be published on our website every Sunday, covering emergency response, medical care, training, administration and command. The final profile will appear in the week of Saint Barbara’s Day. Further accounts from the Indian Ocean and Southern Africa will then be added to the series.
Explore the Women in Fire and Rescue page
Subscribe to our newsletter to receive each new profile
Contribute to this history
Did you serve in a fire brigade in Réunion before 2000, or know a woman who did? Photographs with or without captions, official appointment records, newspaper articles, internal newsletters and personal memories can help establish dates and fill gaps in this history. Write to patrimoine@lemuseedespompiers.re. Documents entrusted to us will be returned after digitisation.
Acknowledgements
Ligne de vie is published by the Friends of the Réunion and Indian Ocean Firefighters’ Museum. This first issue was designed and laid out by Maya de Villepoix, editor-in-chief. Our thanks to Gilberte Pothin, Marie-Nelle Payet, Odile Lery, Laëtitia Heries, Adel Supra-Vertue, Cindy Theron and Thobeka Senatse for sharing their stories, to Nicolas Chevrier for his article, and to the communications team at Réunion’s SDIS for their photographs.
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