Saddleworth wildfires pose ‘long-term health threat’

SCIENTISTS have warned that the wildfires that raged over Saddleworth Moor earlier this summer may have released a cocktail of toxic smoke with potentially dire consequences for human health.

The wildfires smouldered for three weeks, with Greater Manchester fire and rescue service declaring them extinguished on July 18. But scientists believe that there may be a lingering after-effect in the form of haze – the smoke and dust emitted from the fire.

Saddleworth Moor is made up of peat, which scientists say is a particular health threat because of the large amounts of carbon it stores and the way peat fires can burn for long periods of time, emitting large amounts of smoke and tiny particulate matter.

In today’s Telegraph Magazine, Susan Page, professor of physical geography at the University of Leicester, warns toxic smoke poses “significant health risks to human communities” even hundreds of miles from the fire.

The moorland is a store to 200 years’ worth of industrial pollution, said Prof Page. “My concern is whether the fires are liberating some of those industrial pollutants back up into the atmosphere.”

Research in Canada has shown harmful levels of mercury have been released. “Peat smoke contains many carcinogenic gases such as hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and benzene that could result in longer-term increase in ill health and mortality,” said Prof Page.

Research by the University of Tasmania showed an estimated 340,000 people die every year from effects of inhaling harmful particulate matter. Fay Johnston, head of the environmental health research group there, said: “If you have asthma it’s going to make it worse. And if you have lung disease, you’re at very high risk of having an exacerbation.”

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