Families use face masks as smoke chokes cities, severe dust storms hit
Sydney residents put on face masks as smoke from bushfires blanketed the city yesterday while blazes further south cut power and forced hundreds to flee their homes.
More than 600 houses have been consumed by fire in Queensland, farther down the east coast in New South Wales and Victoria and even on the island of Tasmania.
Emily Selmon, a resident of Bondi Beach in Sydney, woke to the stench of smoke that blotted out landmarks, including the opera house. She and her three children put on face masks for the first time to walk to school.
‘‘If this is how Sydney is going to be when bushfire season hits, then it seems sensible to get some of the air pollution masks that they sell in cities like Beijing,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s really, really scary.’’
Camille Raynes-Greenow, an air pollution expert at the University of Sydney, said that the city’s air quality was as poor as Delhi’s. ‘‘The causes are different, bushfires for Sydney and a combination of reliance on fossil fuels, industrial waste burning and traditional farming practices for Delhi, but the outcome is the same: hazy air that we can see and taste,’’ she said.
Doctors warned people with respiratory and heart conditions to stay indoors as hundreds were treated for the effects of smoke in Sydney and the South Australian capital, Adelaide.
A code red, the highest bushfire warning, was issued across parts of Victoria, the second most populous state. More than 80,000 households were without power and extreme heat and strong winds forced schools to close. The winds, aided by a crippling drought, have caused severe dust storms, blanketing cities and towns in arid red soil blown from far inland.
‘‘You are in danger, act now to protect yourself,’’ the Victoria Country Fire Authority told residents . ‘‘It is too late to leave. The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately.’’
Scientists and firefighters are pleading for more to be done to curb global warming.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denied there is a direct link between Australian greenhouse gas emissions and the fires, although he conceded that global warming might be making them more intense. ‘‘Climate change is a global phenomenon and we are doing our bit as part of the response to climate change.’’
At least four people have died in the fires, which began sweeping Australia two weeks ago. They follow years of drought, which has left bushland tinderdry. Some inland towns have run out of water or are in danger of doing so. Officials warned Sydney’s population of 5.2 million that their water supplies were falling rapidly and tough new water restrictions would be imposed.