There has been considerable community interest as a result of the planned burns and associated smoke impacts today.
The Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) duty air forecaster has issued a smoke forecast for 1 April 2015. The forecast for Melbourne – GOOD TO FAIR air quality. The forecast for the Latrobe Valley – FAIR to locally POOR air quality until late morning tomorrow.
Local weather forecast for Latrobe Valley and East Gippsland is for light winds. Smoke levels from planned burns look like they have peaked but are likely to persist until late morning when wind speeds are predicted to increase and disperse smoke.
EPA Victoria will review the data from its monitoring stations overnight and during the morning to determine any future action.
If you are experiencing any symptoms that may be due to smoke exposure, the Department of Health and Human Services advises people to seek medical advice or call Nurse-on-Call on 1300 60 60 24.
For general information about how smoke from fires potentially affects health and precautions to take to reduce exposure, visit: http://health.vic.gov.au/environment/bushfires-smoke.htm
For the latest information where burns are underway or planned for the next few days visit emergency.vic.gov.au, call 1800 240 667 or check the FireReady app.
As burns are weather dependent plans for burning can change at short notice. To stay up to date on scheduled planned burns people should visit www.vic.gov.au/plannedburn