Saddleworth Moor fire spread pollution to five million people, report finds

The fire on Saddleworth Moor in June 2018 was battled by more than 100 firefighters and the military, and burned for three weeks before being fully extinguished.

A report by the University of Leeds yesterday (Tuesday) has revealed that damaging particles in the air emitted from the moorland fire reached as far as 50 miles away and were detected in air over Wigan and Southport.

The huge plume of smoke from the fire spread deadly PM2.5 particles, which cause irreversible damage to the lungs over time, to around five million people.

Calculations made by researchers at Leeds also worked out that around nine deaths would have been "brought forward" due to the particles emitted by the fire.

This is a mathematical calculation of deaths which occurred earlier than they would have without the pollution from the fires, as the PM2.5 particles are associated with increases in deaths from diseases such as heart disease and stroke.

The paper, which is published in Environmental Research Letters, also estimated the economic impact of the fires to be £21.1 million.

They said: "It's clear from this study that the pollution from wildfires can have a significant effect on public health.

"The smoke contains very high levels of toxic particulate matter aerosol, which can be transported long distances.

"When this smoke passes over urban areas, it adds to an already polluted environment and can cause very poor air quality.

"We should be aware that the smoke from wildfires can travel long distances, and can damage people's health, even far from the fires.

"Although people may not have been able to smell smoke, particulate matter was very high in areas far away from the fires, such as Southport and Wigan.

"Particulate pollution from the fires substantially degraded air quality over the north-west of England, leading the pollution levels much above the recommended levels."

The Leeds academics also said that there was little knowledge of the potential impacts of wildfires on public health, as large wildfires are relatively rare in the UK

But it warned that climate change scenarios predict that UK summers will become both hotter and dryer, which means wildfires are likely to become both more common with a consequent impact on health.