20/11/2019

(AU) Sydney's Bushfire Smoke Haze Leaves 60 People Needing Treatment From Paramedics

ABC News


Sydney was wreathed in bushfire smoke. (ABC News)

Key Points
  • Sydneysiders woke to a thick blanket of smoke on Tuesday morning
  • It was from a bushfire at Gospers Mountain, north-west of Sydney
  • The Rural Fire Service is monitoring dozens of blazes around the state
The thick layer of bushfire smoke blanketing Sydney on Tuesday morning has largely moved on, but dozens of Sydneysiders required medical assistance from the haze.
At least 60 people were treated by paramedics for health complications caused by the smoke haze, according to NSW Ambulance.
Superintendent Jordan Emery said some calls for help were severe and required transport to hospital.
"Western Sydney has been particularly heavily affected as a result of the proximity to the bushfire burning just north of Sydney," he said.
Superintendent Emery said that although older people were more vulnerable to respiratory problems, younger people with asthma also required assistance today.
Authorities said while conditions had improved in Sydney's west, further east and around the CBD the air had not completely cleared.
The haze came amid total fire bans in many parts of the state, and forecasts of a heatwave later this week, with temperatures expected to climb past 40 degrees Celsius in some areas.
Sydney CBD blanketed with a smoke haze on Tuesday. (AAP: Joel Carrett)
Emergency Information
The Department of Environment said the smoke pushed air quality beyond "hazardous" levels in Sydney's north-west, and NSW's northern tablelands and north-west slopes.
NSW Health's Director of Environmental Health Doctor Richard Broome said the bad air quality and hot temperatures posed a serious risk.
"If you are somewhere where it's smoky it continues to be really important to avoid outdoor physical activity if you can.
"Especially if you're someone who has a chronic respiratory or heart condition and are more sensitive to smoke."
The smoke spread from the Gospers Mountain fire, which has burnt more than 120,000 hectares north-west of Sydney and remains out of control.
Hot and dry conditions also created challenging conditions for firefighters at Ebor, between Armidale and Coffs Harbour.
There are dozens of fires burning across the state and today's conditions had the Rural Fire Service (RFS) on high alert.
There are 1,400 firefighters working to curb the spread of those fires, but RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said there was "the potential for real challenges".
Smoke haze blanketing the Parramatta River near Rhodes. (AAP: Danny Casey)
"We've got not only these high temperatures, the mid to high 30s, the dry atmosphere, but we've got this real mix of converging winds today," he said.
A northerly wind will make its way down the coast and inland, before swinging around to the south-west and strengthening, and later a blustery southerly will travel up the coast.

How to cope with the smoke
Keep windows and doors shut
The air quality was worst in western Sydney, around Richmond and Rouse Hill, where air pollution is around two to three times the national standard.
Dr Broome said the risks from the smoke were minor for most people, with sore eyes and a sore throat the most common symptoms.
However, people who have pre-existing conditions like asthma or emphysema may be at slightly higher risk of developing problems.
"[For those people] it's actually better to stay indoors, keeping your windows and doors shut," he said.
But with no end in sight for the fires, which kicked off earlier than normal this year, Dr Broome advised people to adapt.
"People just need to build it into their routine a little bit for the next period of time," he said.
Dr Broome also said it could be smoky again tomorrow, with that pattern continuing until the end of the week.
"It's also going to be very hot, especially in Western Sydney and further north in New South Wales. We're expecting heatwave conditions, mostly from Wednesday onwards," he said.
The smoke came from a bushfire in Gospers Mountain, north-west of Sydney. (ABC News: Antonette Collins)
Many Sydneysiders struggled in this morning's smoky conditions.
"My eyes are stinging, my daughter's coughing her guts out," said one woman at Milsons Point.
Another said: "It's disgusting. I was woken up about two o'clock this morning and it was terrible."
"I'm finding it difficult to breathe and I don't have any health issues."
Some people exercising outdoors were unfazed by the health warnings. (ABC News: Antonette Collins)

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(AU) Doctors 'Obliged To Speak On Climate Risk' As Smoke Blankets Sydney

SBS News

High temperatures mixed with changeable winds will likely spread flames in different directions and pose challenges for tired NSW firefighters.
The Sydney Business District seen through smoke haze in Sydney, Tuesday, 19 November, 2019. Source: AAP
Doctors have a responsibility to speak out about the dire health impacts of climate change, an expert says, as bushfires burning across NSW create hazardous air pollution in Sydney.
Sydney woke to a thick blanket of smoke as NSW residents are urged to "stay vigilant" amid severe fire dangers and a hot, windy weather forecast.
Parts of the city reached unhealthy levels of air pollution due to smoke from the fires on Tuesday, with areas in north-west Sydney matching the level of air pollution in New Dehli.
Most of NSW's east coast is under severe or very high fire danger ratings as almost 50 blazes burn across the state, with more than half of those uncontained.
Darren Irwin from Muogamarra brigade posted a message this morning on a local community Facebook page which sums up the smoke nicely. Thanks Darren for the artwork!
A "watch and act" alert was on Tuesday morning issued for an 11,000-hectare blaze at Guyra Road in Ebor, east of Armidale. Activity on the fire's southern edge has increased but the blaze remains under control.
"It's fair to say all of these fires have got the potential to present real challenges today," Rural Fire Service NSW Chief Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said on Tuesday.
But Public health physician Dr Kate Charlesworth said the medical profession has an obligation to discuss the link between climate change and poor health.
"From a health perspective, refusing to talk about these bushfires is like refusing to talk about smoking and lung cancer," she told AAP.
"There's a proud history of health professionals standing up on issues of importance - think of asbestos and tobacco control - that is our role."
Dr Charlesworth says doctors are increasingly seeing the health impacts of climate change on patients and speaking up is "part of our duty of care".
The Doctors for the Environment Australia members said poor air quality caused by bushfire smoke puts vulnerable groups at risk, including people with pre-existing heart and lung disease as well as the elderly, babies and young children.
Dr Kate Charlesworth. GREENPEACE
"The key thing is people need to keep their medication at hand - they need to stay indoors, avoid exercise, and see their doctor if they feel it's necessary," Dr Charlesworth said.
The central Sydney air quality rating is poor and people with asthma or other breathing issues are advised to stay indoors, avoid outdoor exercise and seek medical advice as needed. Visibility is also extremely low.
In Sydney's northwest, air quality has been deemed hazardous, with Rouse Hill and Prospect the worst affected areas.
Following weeks of difficult bushfire conditions and last week's 'catastrophic" warnings, Mr Fitzsimmons said it was crucial people didn't take anything for granted.
"The last thing we want is lethargy or complacency or fatigue to set in when it comes to monitoring these conditions," he said.
Six lives and 530 homes have been lost since the NSW bushfire season hit some weeks ago, with more than 420 homes destroyed in the past fortnight alone.
Parts of the state under severe fire danger on Tuesday are Greater Sydney, Greater Hunter, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, Southern Ranges and Central Ranges fire regions.
These regions, along with the Northern Slopes and North Western regions, are also under a total fire ban.
Much of the rest of eastern NSW is under very high fire danger.
Wildlife that survived the bushfire in Wollemi National Park near Sydney graze for food, Sunday, November 17, 2019. AAP
Some 1.6 million hectares of land have been lost so far - more than the entire 1993/1994 bushfire season.
Emergency Services Minister David Elliott on Monday said the biggest risk this week would be firefighters becoming fatigued.
A DC10 air tanker has been drafted in from North America to help drop up to 38,000 litres of water and retardant on blazes and efforts will be bolstered by help from New Zealand firefighters, Mr Elliott said.

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(AU) Climate Change And The Economy Are Linked — It's Time The Morrison Government Accepts That

ABC News - Ian Verrender

The PM can see fires burning, he and others may need to act. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Time is a precious commodity. And it is rapidly running out for the Federal Government on two key fronts.
With fires raging across a parched eastern Australia, exacting an intolerable toll on life and property even before the onset of summer, the Government is facing a growing backlash against its long-held belief that our energy should be generated by antiquated, coal-fired steam engines that pollute the atmosphere and accelerate the onset of global warming.
Given the prospect of another scorching summer, pressure is likely to build for a coherent, science-based climate and energy policy given the devastating impact climate change is having on the nation and the economy.
It's now clear that it is not just rising sea levels that pose challenges for Australia as rural output declines and the economy takes a direct hit — not from drowning, but burning.
The three factors demand
Morrison rethink climate approach
Equally contentious is Canberra's rigid determination to deliver a budget surplus even as the economy weakens, which runs the risk of transforming a prolonged downturn into something quite ugly.
It's a stance that has put it at loggerheads with an increasingly desperate Reserve Bank now being forced to canvas an array of unpalatable policy options in an effort to stave off recession.
At the May federal election, financials trumped the environment, once again validating the advice to Bill Clinton in his campaign against George Bush: it's the economy, stupid.
Both issues, however, have begun to intersect and being behind on both fronts at the next election would be political suicide.

Rate cuts not enough to boost growth
There's little doubt interest rates will be cut to 0.5 per cent by February and that, in the absence of direct government stimulus, rates will be lower than otherwise necessary and for a much longer period. Every economic indicator is weakening.
Inflation has been below stall-speed for almost four years. Growth is sputtering, at its slowest since the financial crisis a decade ago. Wages growth has stagnated to near all-time lows. Retail spending is in reverse. Household debt, meanwhile, remains among the highest in the world.
The one area of relative strength in recent years — employment — also has begun to deteriorate. For the first time in three years, figures released last week showed jobs were lost in October.
While monthly employment numbers are notoriously volatile, all the signals were discouraging. The number of people out of work rose by 17,000 and fewer people were looking for work.
That's despite three interest rate cuts since June to an unprecedented 0.75 per cent and tax cuts that were supposed to jolt the economy out of its funk.
Cutting interest rates — the only real tool the Reserve Bank has — is supposed to encourage households and businesses to borrow and spend, thereby lifting demand, boosting profits and economic growth.
That's not happening, and you don't need to be an economist to understand why. Australian households are hocked to the eyeballs, coming in near the world's most indebted at around 200 per cent of income.
With no wages growth, there is very little desire to take on even more debt, no matter how low rates go.
Rather than borrow more, it's now clear Australians are using the recent cuts to reduce debt. Just 7 per cent of ANZ customers have lowered their mortgage repayments.
The Commonwealth Bank has seen deposits grow 10 per cent, mostly mortgage offset accounts.
That's no bad thing in itself. But it illustrates a key phenomenon that John Maynard Keynes noted. When things look like turning ugly, consumers pull in their horns and spend less. That makes a downturn even worse.

Drought to hit export earnings
The drought of 2002 was among the worst on record. It was followed by one equally as severe in 2006. Back then, the Reserve Bank described weather patterns at the start of this millennium as "exceptional by historical standards".
This drought is just as severe and intensifying.
Where once we had droughts of this magnitude every 40 years (Federation, early 1940s, early 1980s), they are now increasing in frequency and duration.
As this Bureau of Meteorology chart below shows, a substantial portion of the continent has recorded the lowest rainfall on record with a huge proportion either below or very much below average.
The tiny patches of blue show where rainfall has been above average.
The map paints a dire picture of Australia's rainfall. (Supplied: BOM)
The extreme rainfall shortages have been accompanied by a steady increase in temperature which is drying out the sub-soil and increasing evaporation rates of surface water.
This adds to the difficulty and length of time farmers face trying to recover and raises questions about our longer term ability to maintain food and fibre exports.
Farm output is likely to be around 8 per cent down on last year's levels, farm profits are off 20 per cent and rural exports are falling.
That will subtract from national economic growth this year at a time when mineral prices are in decline. Iron ore prices are almost 15 per cent below their peak earlier this year.
And that spells pain.

Big business and climate action
Mike Henry was anointed BHP's new chief last week, immediately seizing the opportunity to declare the company — one of the nation's biggest coal miners — was committed to reducing emissions.
A decade ago, then BHP head Marius Kloppers agitated, successfully for a while, for the introduction of a carbon price.
That's put the company on a collision course with various other members of the Minerals Council and the Business Council of Australia.
Insurers, power generators, steel producers and a host of major Australian corporations have embraced the idea that climate change is real, that it is a long term threat to their business and that immediate action needs to be taken. Globally, companies like Shell and BP, major hydrocarbon producers, are committed to a renewable energy future.
For 20 years, however, there has been no consensus in Canberra, no coherent climate policy and repeated failures on energy policy with a continued push from some quarters to produce electricity from new coal burning steam engines.
Australia's carbon emissions reached a new record this year, partly because of a spike in gas exports.
It is debatable that even a shift to a completely renewable energy economy would have halted the devastating drought and fires spreading across the nation. But if we are to become one of the worst affected nations from climate change, perhaps it's time to take a leading role in affecting change.
It just might be good for business.

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