Authorities warn people to take health precautions as firefighters spend night responding to alarms triggered by smoke hazeMelbourne's air quality 'worst in the world' as bushfires continue to burn across VictoriaVictorians started Tuesday by breathing in the worst air in the world due to smoke blowing down from bushfires in the state’s east and New South Wales. Air quality forecasts for Geelong, Latrobe Valley, Melbourne, central region, all of Gippsland and the north central region were all listed as hazardous for Tuesday by the EPA. Fashionable face masks: 'Trying to make something horrific seem appealing' Read more“Overnight for Melbourne it did reach the worst in the world,” the state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, told reporters. “It will improve through the course of today, I’m told by the chief environmental scientist, so with warmer temperatures that particulate matter will lift.”Sutton said while the air quality level remained hazardous, everyone, including healthy people, were at risk. Canadian and US firefighters are also helping in the alpine region fires.

Source: The Guardian January 13, 2020 22:10 UTC