Sydney covered by smoke from prescribed burns
By BEN CUBBY ENVIRONMENT EDITOR
May 12, 2010 SYDNEYSIDERS were told to stay indoors or don masks, and about 25 people were treated for breathing problems as clouds of bushfire smoke unfurled across the city. A rogue breeze drove smoke from hazard reduction burning in the Blue Mountains down to street level yesterday. Westerly winds had been expected to lift it high above Sydney, according to a smoke plume plan developed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Meteorology. The smoke and ash particles lent the sky an orange glow as it moved from the south-west towards the northern beaches. ”[The] smoke impacts were unfortunate and unpredicted. We are following up on what caused them to minimise these issues in the future,” a spokeswoman for the parks service said. The smoke came from the planned burning of 2507 hectares of thick bush called the Blue Labyrinth in a remote area of the Blue Mountains National Park south of Woodford. The parks service, which has been accused of being reluctant to organise hazard reduction burns to protect biodiversity, has carried out a record 221 prescribed burns in the few safe days since the start of July last year. ”There are usually only 20 days a year when conditions are perfect and the weather over the last couple of weeks has created these perfect conditions,” the spokeswoman said. ”We are taking every opportunity to get this important work done,” she said. …
