Australia Bushfire management 2020 Assessment | Research Report
Background of the Disaster
The 2020 Australian bushfire, which is also known as Black Summer, began with the numerous serious uncontrolled fires in June 2019. Throughout the 2019-2020 summers the hundreds of fires burnt in most of the southeast of Australia. The fires which broke out during December and January haven’t been controlled since then. The fires burned an estimated 18.6 million hectares (46 million acres; 186,000 square kilometers; 72,000 square kilometers), damaged over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people as of 9 March 2020. An approximate one billion animals were killed, and several endangered species may be pushed to extinct. Air quality fell to alarming levels at its peak.
The best way to scale this fire disaster is by focusing on the area of land where the fire that has burned and by comparison with other fires disaster this fire has been burned in most part of the area. According to the department of Home affairs, to date more than 12.6 million hectares across the country have been burned. One of the province New south wales more than 5.4 million hectares have been burned and this is stated by the NSW Rural Fire service Ben Shepherd[i] . He also said that an average bushfire season in New South Wales burned around 300,000 hectares.
It is believed that more than half million Australians have been affected by this bushfire and it also include millions who are suffering with health issues according to the new report form the Australia institute. The survey in report tells that people found that in some ways 57% of Australian were directly affected by this bushfire. In 3 months, the survey report also tells that 26% people reported health effects as a result of smoke haze. This bushfire also changes the routine of 33% of people as they are not going outside due to adverse environmental conditions[ii] .
Environmental Health issues in Bushfires
The number of people reporting negative health impacts was extrapolated to represent about 5.1 million Australian adults in the nationally representative sample. According to the report the number of people who were suffering from poor health as a result of the fires was highest in NSW, where 35 percent of those surveyed said they suffered from smoke-related illnesses such as coughing or respiratory problems. While in Victoria the number was 29 percent, but the survey was taken at the early stages of bushfires in that province before the hazardous levels smoke haze hit in one of the biggest cities of Victoria Melbourne[iii].
From early September 2019 until 23 February 2020, 434 million tons of carbon dioxide was emitted into the atmosphere by this bushfire. This amounted to more than three-quarters of the Australian industry produced in 2018-19 from 532 million tons. These will increase Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, contribute to global warming, and increase the likelihood of recurring megafires that will release even more emissions.
It was beginning of January. The Australian capital had endured days of poisonous air quality. Thick smoke from burning fires in New South Wales and Victoria had made the landmarks of the town invisible. The air quality reading was the worst on New Year’s Day in Canberra: 26 times the levels considered dangerous to human health. Australia is famed for its clean air. Yet the unparalleled fire season this summer is altering it. Millions of people breathed toxic pollution for months in Canberra, Sydney and rural towns close to the fires[iv].
One of the Associate Professor Donna Green studied the relationship between climate change, air pollution and human health for years. She says increasing temperatures will increase air contaminants, such as ozone at ground level. While Australia is seeing more frequent bushfires and dust storms due to climate change, we ‘re also going to see a rise in air pollution, even far from its source. “We ‘re already seeing it and will see more of it in the future,” says Green. Coarse and fine particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide are the most common air pollutants which are dangerous to human health. The smoke inhaled by many Australians this summer contains small particles, known as PM 2.5, which are particularly harmful as they that penetrate the bloodstream. “It can affect any organ in your body, so you ‘re not only thinking about respiratory and heart-related problems, people are connecting it to diabetes [and] dementia,” says Green. She also said that recently, air pollution has been linked to autoimmune diseases. The causal relationship is not yet known, but if it contributes only a small amount to these diseases, the overall impact on the population would be significant[v].
Some population groups are at higher risk of exposure to smoke, either because they usually breathe more air per body weight and their organs are still developing like young children or they spend more time outdoors (outdoor workers, homeless people) or they are more vulnerable to this hazardous smoke like old age people due to their preexisting health issues . Moreover, there is also an evidence that exposure to bush fire smoke during pregnancy is associated with decreased birth weight in infants and a higher risk of gestational diabetes in mothers. The effects of exposure to smoke and inhalation range from eye and respiratory irritation to more serious disorders, including reduced lung function, bronchitis, exacerbated asthma and premature death. Exposure to particulate matter is the main threat to public health from short-term exposure to wildfire smoke. To sum up, according to the World Health Organization, older people, people with cardio-respiratory diseases or chronic diseases, children and outdoor workers are particularly vulnerable[vi].
Environmental health Management in Bushfire
Responding to emergencies such as fires and floods requires broad coordination across government departments, municipal councils, volunteer groups, private organizations and communities. The Department of Health & Human Services worked to improve and protect the health and well-being of all Victorians in emergencies, like bushfires, with major health consequences[vii].
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) have an important role to play in environmental public health and in promoting improved community health and well-being. EPA is responsible for controlling the impact of past, present and potential future waste and pollution events just like this bushfire. In particular, the EPA provides information, advice and warnings on the environmental and community health impacts of smoke from fires (industrial, planned burns or bush fires). The Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for managing environmental health issues not related to pollution or waste. These include radiation safety, food safety, drinking water safety, communicable diseases, extreme heat, and climate change health impacts[viii].
The Victorian government provided protective kits for people returning to properties affected by fires. Protective kits were provided with along with additional masks, disposable coveralls and sturdy gloves[ix].
Risk Communication
A balanced communication on public health that considers health risks, people’s concerns and the effectiveness and practicality of protective measures is needed. There can be ways to reduce public exposure to hazardous air pollution by bush fire smoke alerts, real-time air quality data and forecasts, and related health protection advices which can enable the individuals, particularly those who are more sensitive, to plan their daily activities accordingly[x].
Figure 1:Factsheet: bushfire smoke and health protection (Australian National University Research School of Population Health, 2020)
Environmental health literacy and a broader understanding of the causes and effects of bush fire and the health implications of air pollution are significant. People sometimes believe that smoke generated from burning wood or other renewable fuels is natural and they are not harmful to health, but this is all misunderstanding. Moreover, toxicological studies have also shown that biomass-derived particles from smoke can cause inflammatory, oxidative and genotoxic reactions like the particles generated from road traffic congestion[xi]. Furthermore, a systematic analysis of epidemiological research paper shown that the higher asthma-related consequences for PM2.5 from the smoke which is generated from bushfire relative to other sources[xii]. The scale of the issue is highlighted and the systematic action is promoted when there is the comparison of pollutant concentrations with regulatory requirements such as 24‐hour PM2.5 average of 25 μg/m3 . However, local air quality can change very quickly. As data of real time hourly PM2.5 and sales forecast are more useful to plan daily activities and to reduce air pollution exposure. One mobile application was also developed named AirRater smartphone App which can share location specific hourly PM2.5 measurements from all the jurisdictions. But most of the location which were affected by the bushfire smoke do not have stations which could monitor air quality. This highlights the need for more state-and territorial-level air quality monitoring facilities which include fixed monitoring sites, portable equipment and low-cost sensors that can be quickly deployed.
Regulatory Frameworks and Relevant laws
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, also known as the EPBC Act, is the key national environmental legislation in Australia. This law controls practices that are likely to have a major effect on covered matters at national level. There are two types of Bushfire management activities in Australia namely Firefighting (emergency steps taken to avoid life or property damage from bushfires) and fire prevention (preventive steps taken before a fire to avoid or reduce the risk of fire severity)[xiii].
National emergency law application in firefighting activities
The overriding concern in the case of emergency bush fire suppression and prevention operations is always protection of life and property. National environmental law typically does not limit responses needed to handle incidents involving bush fires, nor does it control steps taken to suppress fires. Emergency bush fire activities have a significant impact on nationally protected matters for example back burning, fire break clearing, or access to emergency vehicles or habitat camps where threatened species are known to occur. If all activities are part of an emergency response so compliance measures or other penalties under national environmental legislation are unlikely to apply.
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