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posted by martyb on Tuesday November 19 2019, @04:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the smoggy-days dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Sydney was shrouded in a dangerous haze on Tuesday as high winds blew smoke from bushfires blazing along Australia's eastern coast into the country's biggest city sending pollution levels soaring.

Official data showed air pollution had reached "hazardous" levels across Sydney, with the highest readings of PM 2.5 particulates in the city's northwest reaching 186 parts per million on the air quality index - comparable to New Delhi in India. Residents were warned to avoid outdoor exercise.

[...] More than 110 fires are currently burning across the east, with dozens of blazes still not contained.

In South Australia state, a ban on lighting fires is in place ahead of predicted "catastrophic" fire danger on Wednesday, when temperatures are expected to soar to about 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @08:24PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @08:24PM (#922068)

    Trees are made of wood and can catch fire. More news at 4:20

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 19 2019, @08:54PM

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday November 19 2019, @08:54PM (#922076)

    Trees are made of wood and can catch fire.

    Australian trees are made of wood and highly flammable sap.

    Australian trees live on the 2nd driest continent on the planet.

    Australian trees evolved to deal with annual fires, and in fact depend upon fires to reproduce.

    People arrived and began putting the annual fires out, causing the fires to get bigger and bigger. People also decided the bush was a nice place to live.

    I don't have a solution, just a list of causes for why the fires are getting worse. That may well be others.