Smoke is a collection of airborne particles, usually from fire. Smoke is a complex mixture of:
- water vapour
- gases, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds
- particles of differing sizes.
We measure PM2.5 and PM10 particles. PM2.5 means particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter. PM10 means particles smaller than 10 micrometres.
Smoke can come from:
- bushfires
- coalmine fires
- industrial and chemical fires
- landfill fires
- peat fires
- planned burns
- private burn-offs
- smoky vehicles
- tyre fires
- wood heaters.
Smoke and the law
The general environmental duty applies to managing smoke.
The Environment Protection Regulations 2021(opens in a new window) set out obligations to manage smoke. This includes complying with standards when manufacturing or selling fuel heaters.
The Environment Reference Standard sets out standards for safe amounts of smoke in the air based on visual distance. This means you can tell how much smoke is in the air by calculating how far you can see clearly. Learn more about air quality standards and accreditation.
Our role in smoke
We monitor air quality around Victoria. We have monitoring equipment that measures airborne particles, including from smoke. The data we collect supports our daily air quality forecasts.
Learn more about how we monitor the quality of the environment.
You can report smoke from commercial and industrial sources to us. We assess the risk of pollution and respond based on this risk.
For a summary of our current knowledge about air quality, sources, trends and impacts in Victoria, download Air pollution in Victoria.
Impact of smoke on your health
Smoke in the air can harm your health. Learn more about smoke and your health.
If you feel unwell or are concerned about your health and think it might be caused by smoke and/or poor air quality:
- seek medical advice from your doctor
- contact NURSE-ON-CALL on 1300 60 60 24.
Manage smoke from a business
If your business causes an incident that harms or threatens to harm human health or the environment, you must report it as soon as you become aware of it.
If you hold a permission, you must notify us immediately if you breach any condition of your permission. This includes notifying us about any incident that harms or threatens to harm human health or the environment.
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