Home fires burning? If you have respiratory problems stay indoors on cold, still evenings, medical officer of health recommends

Doctor Nick Jones recommends residents with respiratory issues stay indoors when fires are burning on still evenings. Photo / Duncan Brown

A medical officer of health has recommended people with respiratory issues stay indoors during cold, still evenings.

The recommendation comes after Napier and Hastings exceeded air quality standards earlier this week.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council continuously monitors air quality standards and both sites recorded an average level of 55 micrograms of PM10 (very small particles) per cubic metre of air over the 24-hour period to midnight last Sunday.

Dr Nick Jones said the issues mainly arose from wood-burning fires, while in other parts of the country issues arose from car fumes.

"The regional council has been working hard over the past few years to encourage people to upgrade their wood burners and to make sure they do burn dry wood, that's really important," he said.

"From a public health point of view, one of the key messages would be for people who have conditions like heart or lung problems, is that they should avoid going out on those cold, still nights in winter, because that's essentially a time of high risk for them and in the mornings, too."

"Other factors are the weather itself. The still nights are a factor where there's no wind, which means the smoke just sits there."

Dr Jones said it was highly recommended that people burn pure firewood, not treated material, as it could release arsenic into the air.

A study completed in 2006 stated that 69 people had died because of natural particle pollution in the Hawke's Bay region.

It was estimated the number of hospitalisations for heart, lung problems and cardiac admissions were 16 and respiratory problems 18 or 19.

Dr Jones said it was difficult to determine whether the latest air quality standards would affect people, as a number of other factors could contribute.

"I suspect it would be impossible for medical staff to determine whether the respiratory issues are due to the air. The problem is there's always other factors affecting it, flu is one of them and the numbers of flu are on the rise in the community."

"Sometimes it might be a day or two before people are affected after the levels are up, people present different symptoms so it's very difficult to tell."

"My understanding is that as of Monday, the levels went up to 55, the national standard is set at 50 so yes the risk is elevated, but it's not as high as it has been in the past," he said.