The number of smoke haze alerts issued across greater Perth has tripled over the past decade, according to new government data.
The exclusive figures obtained by this masthead show the number of days when smoke choked the greater Perth metropolitan region rose from 37 in 2014-15 to a high of 101 in 2019-20.
The smoke haze is mostly from prescribed burns and is not just a nuisance, but also poses a serious health hazard.
A first-of-its-kind study into the impact of smoke haze on WA’s health system revealed a significant spike in respiratory and cardiovascular-related emergency department attendances and hospital admissions in Perth.
The year-long investigation led by the WA Department of Health found the pollutant most consistently elevated due to smoke from prescribed burning could reach exceedingly high levels, and was associated with asthma attacks, lung cancer, heart attacks, and premature death.
Retired physician Dr Michael Flacks suffers from life-threatening asthma attacks during prescribed burns, despite taking every precaution he can.
Dr Michael Flacks would like the current regime of prescribed burning to be examined.
“A lifelong asthmatic, I migrated from London in 1974 because each winter the cold, and of course smoke fumes made life intolerable,” he said.
“When there is smoke haze I confine myself to the bedroom, cover all the air-conditioning outlets, put roller shutters down, I have heavy drapes on doors and windows, and recently I added two HEPA filters.”
Flacks said his most recent episode was 10 weeks ago when he drove through smoke from a prescribed burn.
“These attacks seriously impact my life and the threat of burning is a source of considerable anxiety,” he said.
“At 86 I think I deserve somewhat better.”
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners WA chairwoman Dr Ramya Raman said prescribed burns meant more patients presenting to their GP.
“Smoky conditions tends to affect people who have an underlying respiratory problem so specifically, we’re talking about patients with asthma, or COPD, or some other congenital lung disease,” she said.
“The haziness and the smoke irritates the airways, and because it irritates the airways, it causes them to feel quite uncomfortable, out of breath and causes wheezing.”
However, a Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions spokeswoman attributed the three-fold increase in smoke alerts to the department’s proactive approach to pre-warn the community of possible impacts.
“Smoke alerts are now generally issued for all prescribed burns likely to have an impact as opposed to the historical practice of issuing alerts when there was an impact or imminent impact on communities,” she said.
She said the department worked closely with the Bureau of Meteorology to minimise smoke from prescribed burns lingering over the city and modified daily burning operations accordingly.
Recent data from the WA Air Monitoring Report showed air quality standards were exceeded 96 times in 2021, with 53 per cent attributable entirely to smoke from prescribed burning.
Doctors for the Environment, the WA Forest Alliance, and the Wilderness Society argued it was critical that the Environmental Protection Authority included air quality and human health in the list of factors it used to assess the DBCA’s prescribed burning program.
In June, the group made a submission to the EPA regarding the DBCA’s forest management plan for the next decade.
Perth neurologist Carolyn Orr said deaths attributable to smoke inhalation from prescribed burning in WA were greater than for any other source of air pollution, and far greater than deaths directly attributable to wildfire.
“The program proposed by the DBCA posed serious human health and air quality risks, including the potential to cause significant mortality over the life of the plan,” she said.
“Prescribed burning is by far the greatest source of fine particulate pollution, responsible for around half of all exceedances of the National Environmental Protection Measure for air quality in WA.”
The DBCA’s order of priorities when undertaking prescribed burns to meet its annual target of burning 200,000 hectares in the south-west has raised eyebrows.
First comes firefighter safety, then lives and assets, and, finally, environmental values.
It gives no consideration to the impact of prescribed burning on the community and its health, a position revealed in response to questions raised in parliament by Greens MLA Brad Pettitt in May.
The DBCA said prescribed burning remained the primary means of protecting the community and environment from the devastating impacts of large bushfires and, while it was not risk-free, it was the most effective strategy in reducing the likelihood, size, and severity of bushfires across the state.
But there is a growing chorus disputing the strategy with scientists and conservation groups labelling WA’s prescribed burning program as damaging and outdated.
Loud calls for an independent inquiry into the practice were rejected by a parliamentary committee earlier this year, a decision Murdoch University fire ecologist Joe Fontaine said warranted “extensive criticism”.
South-West Forests Defence Foundation committee member Beth Schultz said the DBCA’s prescribed burning program was too frequent, too extensive and harmful to native flora and fauna as well as humans.
“Prescribed burning is clearly having a detrimental impact on the health and activities of many people in the metropolitan area as well as the wider south-west,” she said.
“It sends more people to their doctor and to hospital and takes more lives than smoke from wildfires.”
The 2021 WA Health Department study recommended policymakers and health professionals better educate the community about the harms caused by smoke and establish more air quality stations, especially in the southern, eastern and northern outskirts of the Perth metropolitan area.
Health Minister Amber Jade Sanderson’s office declined to answer questions on whether any of the above had been looked at and referred the inquiry to WA Health.
A spokeswoman from the department said they and other government agencies had previously worked with Asthma WA to develop information packages about landscape fire smoke, which includes potential health impacts and how people can minimise their exposure.
“The department continues to provide general health information and public health advice about smoke,” she said.
“This advice is also provided to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services for their communication channels.”
According to the DBCA, conditions are favourable for prescribed burning to kick off in early to mid-September in the northern jarrah forests on the fringes of the metropolitan area.
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