Historical disasters

7.3. Reunion

In island of Reunion, forest fires are very common.The wind and drought of recent years favors their extension and the excavated areas where it is located are often inaccessible. Here is the record of the damage of the last years:

- 2010 : about 951 ha burned

- 2011 : about 3000 ha in the biggest forest fire of the the story of Reunion Island.

- 2012 : 266 ha for 326 Fire start

- 2013 : 324 ha for 496 Fire start

- 2014 : 245 ha for 447 Fire start

- 2015 : 198 ha for 262 Fire start

- 2016 : Since September 15 , 164 ha for 87 interventions.

Fire spreads in two different ways:

- By the wind who stir the fire. The wind pushes the fire and helps him to spread

- By the basement. The heat passes under the ground to touch other trees.

To counter this disaster, there are several techniques used. There are firefighters who water the fire, there are fire cuts, they are bands of land where there are no vegetation And there's the Dash 8, it's an airplane that drops water on the fire.