Bushfire smoke masks

[Pies4shaw]

It isn’t “whinging about a bit of smoke”. It kills people - and in large numbers. It isn’t as spectacular a way to die as being vaporised by a bushfire on a fire truck but the people killed by the effects of smoke are just as dead. About 1 in 9 people in Australia have asthma. All of them and other people with compromised cardiovascular function are at serious risk. Just because you smoke and haven’t died from lung cancer (yet) doesn’t mean that this isn’t a massive concern for a large part of the population.

Despite your protestation that it was “no different to normal”, it actually was for lots of people. Your subjective perception of the effects of the smoke bears, unhappily, no relation at all to the objective damage it is doing to many people’s health.

[pietillidie]

Geez, it's surreal reading this thread. I hope you all get relief soon enough.

Storm this arvo killed the smoke, we've had 18mm of rain since 5pm at my place, we've had double the amount of rain in the first 15 days of Jan that we had in all of jan 2018.

With the climactic conditions that caused the drought finished (positive Indian Dipole and the negative phase of the southern annual mode) we're likely (hopefully) for some more rain and less drought.

Won't help the places burned in the Black Saturday fires 10 years ago, they're primed to burn again next month withe some typical February heat, so we aint finished yet.

Us city folk are fine, winging about a bit of smoke in the air isn't my deal, the fire fighters and people in the front line of the fires have had it far worse

Thank geebus for that. Yeah, it crossed my mind that the worst usually comes in February. (Which reminds me of one of my favourite books as a kid, February Dragon by Colin Thiele).

Healthy people will be fine, but you do worry about asthma sufferers, the elderly, etc. Mum's up at Tatura, so I've been a bit worried because they seem to get a lot of grass fires, which are serious smoke machines.

[pietillidie]

Geez, it's surreal reading this thread. I hope you all get relief soon enough.

I know, right? I feel like we’re all living in a prologue to Peter Watkins’ The War Game, or something.

https://youtu.be/OA_CndlBu0g

Australia's so generally immune to disaster it's hard to compute. People the world over have been genuinely sympathetic.

[think positive]

even healthy people are effected though, my eyes are sore every time i venture out, and ive had a sore throat on and off since new years.
its like hayfever on steroids.

watching people drive on the freeway yesterday, in the smoke, not sure if its the smoke or the roadworks for the tunnel, but FMD i was glad to get home!

[K]

Four is better than two! We don't know how long this will go on for.

true, man its so awful, ...

The question is how many uses you can get out of each mask. The manufacturers wisely don't say anything concrete. The issue is how to keep them from getting too wet.

[Dark Beanie]

Healthy people will be fine, but you do worry about asthma sufferers, the elderly, etc. Mum's up at Tatura, so I've been a bit worried because they seem to get a lot of grass fires, which are serious smoke machines.

My mum is in Mooroopna and we were up there last weekend. Friday was pretty ordinary as it was 39 degrees with northerly wind and smoke haze. Saturday was much clearer and only 25 degrees (which is cold for up there at this time of year).

Mum is 78 at the end of this month and goes for walk each morning but avoids going on the smoky days. Doesn't have asthma any any lung problems, just finds it unpleasant.

There was a fire on Saturday night in the bush next to the cemetery in Echuca Road but apart from hearing the fire engines going out to the fire and the red headed check providing updates from the Vic Emergency app , did not notice too much smoke.

[Woods Of Ypres]

I understand that a small minority of people with existing health issues would have been effected by the Melbourne smoke this week, but come on.
The amount of people walking around in masks was cringe worthy
Saw some people near the city walking around in full respirator gear
One would think they are entering Reactor 4

Its Preston not Pripyat. lol

[David]

When ballboys and professional tennis players with no existing health conditions are collapsing on court from smoke inhalation, I’d say things might be a tiny bit more serious than that:

https://youtu.be/2ywn9kYo2n0

I’m more shocked by how few people were wearing masks during the worst of it a few days ago. Breathing this stuff in certainly isn’t doing your body any good.

[Wonka]

The amount of people walking around in masks was cringe worthy

I've seen no one walking around in masks. Where have you been seeing them?
It was the worst air in the world this week.

[think positive]

What’s cringe worthy about being proactive about your health?

I’m tempted to get one for exiting the G after games!

[pietillidie]

[watt price tully]

What’s cringe worthy about being proactive about your health?

I’m tempted to get one for exiting the G after games!

I thought I'd read all the dumb things.

Wearing a mask is cringeworthy in such polluted air? Sheesh

[Bucks5]

Passive smoke is the silent killer.

[K]

What’s cringe worthy about being proactive about your health?

I’m tempted to get one for exiting the G after games!

Yes, and I'm not even sure it's proactive. Maybe wearing masks at this time is belatedly reactive.

There's also an app called Sh**, I Smoke!

It converts the air quality into supposedly equivalent number of cigarettes, based on this article:

http://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution- ... uivalence/

[think positive]

What’s cringe worthy about being proactive about your health?

I’m tempted to get one for exiting the G after games!

I thought I'd read all the dumb things.

Wearing a mask is cringeworthy in such polluted air? Sheesh

You know it wasn’t me that said it yeah?

I thought my throat was sore from the smoke but this arvo I got chills too, bloody man flu, I even missed a long exposure shoot tonight, ugh