Respro® Bulletin Board

Even brief particle pollution spikes tied to respiratory infections

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

People may be more likely to develop acute lower respiratory infections after even brief increases in air pollution, and babies and toddlers are especially vulnerable, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers looked at more than a decade of data on patients in Utah who were treated for serious lower respiratory tract infections like bronchitis, pneumonia, influenza and pertussis to see if there was any connection between these cases and exposure to so-called PM 2.5, tiny particles that include dust, dirt, soot and smoke.

During the study, average daily concentrations of PM 2.5 were 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air (ug/m3), well below the 35 ug/m3 daily outdoor limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Each short-term 10 ug/m3 increase in PM 2.5 levels, however, was associated with 15 percent higher risk of an acute respiratory infection for kids 0 to 2 years old, the study found. These infections accounted for 77 percent of the cases in the study, and patients were typically treated at hospitals or clinics about one to four weeks after air pollution temporarily spiked.

“It takes two to three weeks in most cases for the infections to occur and become serious enough that people seek healthcare services and, thus, report their infection,” said lead study author Benjamin Horne, a researcher at the Intermountain Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Growing evidence links both short-term and longer-term exposure to air pollution to an increased risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as premature death, researchers point out in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. But research to date in young children who are especially prone to these infections has had mixed results.

It’s possible that some previous studies failed to find a clear link between short-term increases in air pollution and respiratory infections because these studies were too small, or didn’t include wide variation in air pollution, or failed to account for the weeks it takes for infections to develop after the exposure to PM 2.5, Horne said by email.

Current U.S. standards, last updated by the EPA in 2013, limit PM 2.5 exposure outdoors to an average of 35 ug/m3 over 24 hours or an average of 12 ug/m3 over the course of a year.

Nearly 60 percent of children in the U.S. live in counties with average PM 2.5 levels above that standard, the authors note.

In the current study, a total of 146,397 people were included in the analysis. The maximum PM 2.5 concentration measured over the study period was 123 ug/m3.

Most of the infants and toddlers with respiratory infections had bronchiolitis, which develops when small breathing tubes in the lungs get infected and clogged with mucus and is often caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Among older children from 3 to 17 years old, each short-term 10 ug/m3 increase in PM 2.5 levels was associated with 32 percent higher odds of an acute lower respiratory infection.

For adults, each short-term 10 ug/m3 increase in PM 2.5 was linked to 19 percent higher likelihood of a respiratory infection.

Unlike infants and toddlers, older children and adults most often developed influenza and these infections typically developed about one week after exposure to elevated air pollution.

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how brief exposure to increased air pollution, even at overall low levels, might cause respiratory infections.

Still, the results suggest that parents – especially parents of newborns and toddlers – need to protect their children as much as possible from exposure to polluted air, said Kian Fan Chung, a researcher at the National Heart and Lung Institute and Imperial College London in the UK who wasn’t involved in the study.

“This study clearly delineates another deleterious effect of environmental pollution in the young,” Chung said by email.

“Clearly, high levels of PM2.5 increase the risk of catching a respiratory virus infection in the young and very young, a group particularly susceptible to this effect of pollution,” Chung added. “For these children – particularly the very young – living in areas of high pollution, one should consider reducing the levels of pollution at home and use air purifiers, and on days of high pollution they should not go outside.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/2JK3JNw American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, online April 13, 2018.

via Even brief particle pollution spikes tied to respiratory infections | Reuters

Posted in Health Effects of Air Pollution, Medical Studies, USA, USA & Canada | Tagged Air Pollution, Health Effects of Air Pollution, PM2.5, Research, Salt Lake City, USA, Utah | Leave a comment

Chemicals in skin and hair products contribute to air pollution

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

Researchers are reporting that chemical emissions from personal care products are contributing to air pollution, according to a new study out of Boulder, Colorado. During rush hour, the magnitude of emissions from personal care products was found to be comparable to emissions from automobiles.

Study lead author Matthew Coggon is a CIRES scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder working in the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory.

“We detected a pattern of emissions that coincides with human activity: people apply these products in the morning, leave their homes, and drive to work or school. So emissions spike during commuting hours,” said Coggon.

Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5 Siloxane) belongs to a class of chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which evaporate quickly. Once in the air, however, sunlight can trigger VOCs to react with nitrogen oxides and other compounds to form ozone and particulate matter.

The researchers measured levels of VOCs such as siloxane, which is commonly added to shampoo and lotion for a silky texture, as well as emissions of benzene and other chemicals emitted by vehicles. Measurements were conducted in 2015 and 2017 from the roof of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, and in 2016 from a mobile lab on the ground in Boulder.

“We were surveying the air, monitoring every species our instrument was sensitive to – about 150 compounds,” said Coggon. “We found a big peak in the data but we didn’t know what it was.”

Study co-author Patrick Veres suggested it may be siloxane. Because the siloxane emissions correlated with the benzene emissions from traffic, they expected to find it in vehicle exhaust.

When they established that siloxane was not present in vehicle exhaust, they discovered that the common denominator between benzene and siloxane was commuting. Both siloxane and benzene emissions peaked when people set out for their morning work commute, and then decreased during the day.

Because the skin care and hair products were not as potent at the end of the day, the evening peak of siloxane emissions was lower compared to the morning peak.

A recent study led by CIRES and NOAA’s Brian McDonald found that personal care products, household cleaners, paints, and pesticides produced around half of the VOC emissions in Los Angeles during the research period.

“This study provides further evidence that as transportation emissions of VOCs have declined, other sources of VOCs, including from personal care products, are emerging as important contributors to urban air pollution,” said McDonald.

“In this changing landscape, emissions from personal care products are becoming important,” said Coggon. “We all have a personal plume, from our cars and our personal care products. It’s likely that emissions from personal care product also affect the air quality in other cities besides Boulder and L.A. Our team wants to learn more about these understudied sources of pollution.”

The study is published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

via Chemicals in skin and hair products contribute to air pollution • Earth.com

Posted in Air Quality, Health Effects of Air Pollution | Tagged Air Pollution, Air Quality, D5 Siloxane, Nitrogen Oxide NO, Ozone O3, PM - Particulate Matter, Research, vehicle emissions, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | Leave a comment

The Welsh town that’s the most polluted in Britain

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

Three cities and two towns in Wales have found to be over the World Health Organisations limits for air pollution

A Welsh town has been named the most polluted in the UK.

Port Talbot has more air pollution than the UK’s biggest cities, new data has shown.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that the South Wales town, which is home to Britain’s largest steelworks, has an average of 18 micrograms of fine particle air pollution per cubic metre.

This compares to only 14 micrograms in London, 10 micrograms in Birmingham and 12 in Liverpool.

The findings come as three Welsh cities and one other town were also shown to be over the WHO limit for fine particle air pollution.

Cardiff , Chepstow, Newport , and Swansea have all been found to reach the maximum level, with concerns raised over its effect on public health.

Calls have now been made for the Government to take action after 32 towns and cities across the UK were classed to be over the limit.

Both Cardiff and Newport were found to have 10 micrograms of air pollution per cubic metre – the maximum guideline set by the global organisation.

Swansea has 13 micrograms per metre and Chepstow 12 – the same level as cities nearly 40 times its size.

In October, Wrexham was also found to be over the limit for air pollution in a separate study of the towns with the most toxic air.

The data also follows after residents of one of Wales’ most polluted roads in Crumlin, Caerphilly, spoke of the reality of living on a road blighted by heavy traffic.

Earlier this year talks were held by Cardiff council to discuss ideas to clean up the city’s air quality.

Proposals include London-style Low Emission Zones with charges for drivers to enter certain areas and plans to stop high-emission buses from entering Westgate Street.

In Port Talbot proposals have been made to extend the 50mph speed restriction on the M4 in a bid to cut nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels.

The restriction currently applies to a stretch of motorway, between where it passes over Taibach and junction 41, adjacent to Neath Port Talbot Hospital, which is around 3km.

But under the new temporary measure, which is set to be introduced within the next two months, the restriction will be extended west to junction 42, the main Swansea turn-off.

In total it is thought 40,000 people are being killed by toxic fumes every year in the UK.

Alison Cook, director of policy at the British Lung Foundation, said: “This report reconfirms that air pollution is one of the leading environmental public health crises in the UK today.

“Action to reduce the toxic particles in the air we breathe can no longer be delayed.

In response to the data, campaigners said “quaint” and “fresh aired places” have been exposed to “dangerous” pollution levels.

Jenny Bates, Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner, said: “As more air quality data becomes available, we are uncovering a deeply concerning number of seemingly quaint, fresh aired places across the UK with dangerously polluted air. This demonstrates the need for further research, for us to properly understand and improve the state of air pollution across the UK.

“There is no such thing as a safe level of air pollution, though years of government complacency suggests they think otherwise.

“We need to see measures including a stronger national network of clean air zones, a diesel scrappage scheme and investment in walking, cycling and public transport to enable as many car-free journeys as possible.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Improving air quality is one of our priorities. Average air pollution levels in Wales have continued to improve, but we recognise hotspots remain close to busy roads and major industrial sites.

“The Minister for Environment announced a package of measures last week which will support compliance with air quality limits, helping improve public health and our natural environment.”

Neath Port Talbot council’s chief executive, Steven Phillips, disputed the figures provided by WHO.

He said: “Neath Port Talbot Council recognises air quality issues locally and has a longstanding strategy and programme to address it.

“We are involved in a research programme with three universities led by Cardiff and Swansea universities in environmental monitoring work as well as working closely with the manufacturing sector and other partners to make improvements. The Welsh Government is also playing its part with the recent proposal to extend the 50 mph limit on the M4.

“However both the Air Quality in Wales website, which is fed via data from local monitoring stations, and the WHO figures themselves contradict the figure of 18 as an annual average for PM 2.5 which has been widely reported in the media. We are therefore trying to establish where this figure originated and how it came to be used.”

via The Welsh town that’s the most polluted in Britain – Wales Online

Posted in Air Quality, Europe, UK | Tagged Air Pollution, Cardiff, Chepstow, Newport, Nitrogen Dioxide NO2, PM2.5, Port Talbot, Swansea, UK, Wales, World Heath Organization (WHO) | Leave a comment

90 percent of world’s population breathes badly polluted air: WHO

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

Nine out of every 10 people on the planet breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants and kills seven million people each year, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) study.

Nine out of every 10 people on the planet breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants and kills seven million people each year, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) study released on Wednesday. The study is an analysis of what the WHO says is the world’s most comprehensive database on ambient air pollution. The organisation collected the data from more than 4,300 cities and 108 countries, reports CNN. People in Asia and Africa face the biggest problems, according to the study. More than 90 per cent of air pollution-related deaths happen there, but cities in the Americas, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean also have air pollution levels that are beyond what the WHO considers healthy. The new WHO data show that US cities on the more polluted side of the list include Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Fresno, California; Indianapolis; and the Elkhart-Goshen area of Indiana.

Peshawar and Rawalpindi in Pakistan, have some of the highest particulate air pollution levels in the database. Varanasi and Kanpur in India; Cairo; and Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, also show higher levels. “I’m afraid what is dramatic is that air pollution levels still remain at dangerously high levels in many parts of the world,” CNN quoted Maria Neira, director of the WHO’s Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, as saying. “No doubt that air pollution represents today not only the biggest environmental risk for health, but I will clearly say that this is a major, major challenge for public health at the moment and probably one of the biggest ones we are contemplating.” Particle pollution, a mix of solid and liquid droplets in the air, can get sucked into and embedded deep in your lungs when you breathe. That can lead to health conditions including asthma, lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), according to the study.

These outdoor particulates — including sulphate, nitrates and black carbon — are largely created by car and truck traffic, manufacturing, power plants and farming. In total, air pollution caused about 4.2 million deaths in 2016, it added. “Many of the world’s megacities exceed WHO’s guideline levels for air quality by more than five times, representing a major risk to people’s health,” Neira said. This is “a very dramatic problem that we are facing now”. Cleaner air accounts for in cities like like Wenden, Arizona (population 2,882), or Cheyenne, Wyoming (population 64,019). The Eureka-Arcata-Fortuna area of California; Battlement Mesa, Colorado; Wasilla, Alaska; Gillette, Wyoming; and Kapaa, Hawaii, are all on the cleaner-air list. One of the bigger US cities with cleaner air is Honolulu, according to the WHO data.

via 90 percent of world’s population breathes badly polluted air: WHO – The Financial Express

Posted in Africa, Air Quality, Asia, Australia & Oceania, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, USA & Canada, World News | Tagged Africa, Air Pollution, Al Jubail, Asia, Cairo, Egypt, India, Kanpur, Pakistan, Peshwar, Saudi Arabia, Varanasi, World Heath Organization (WHO) | Leave a comment

Large parts of India dotted with fires: Nasa images

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) images of the past ten days show large parts of India are dotted with fires, stretching across Uttar Pradesh (UP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and even some southern states. In sweltering summer, these fires are intensifying heat and causing black carbon (a component of soot with high global warming effect) pollution.
Some of these dots may be forest fires but Hiren Jethva, research scientist at Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center, says fires in central India may be mostly crop fires as forest fires are usually uncontrolled and, therefore, produce more smoke and haze.
Agricultural scientists are linking the massive rise in the incidence of crop fires in recent years to the dependence of farmers on combine harvesters, which leave a short stubble behind. The practice of crop stubble burning is not limited to the northern states of Haryana and Punjab, where the problem is rampant.
While burning of paddy stubble has been a common practice among farmers since it is unsuitable as fodder, increasing incidence of wheat stubble burning is a relatively new trend. States with crop fires seen in Nasa maps have a dominant rice-wheat cropping system. There are two choices of harvesting for farmers—manual or by combine harvester. But with acute shortage of labour, combine harvesters are turning out to be the quickest and cheapest mode of harvesting and preparing the soil for paddy.

“I suspect that the use of combine harvesters is increasing across the country. During my research, I found that the single most important determinant of burning crop residue is the use of combine harvesters. Farmers just find it cheaper to burn residue than to clear it manually by employing labour. I also suspect that farmers are finding it harder to maintain animals or that fodder practices have changed, leading to farmers burning off even wheat residue. But this requires to be backed by research,” says Ridhima Gupta, Indian School of Business (ISB) researcher, who studied the economics of farm fires in Punjab. During her research, she found that using manual labour is twice as expensive as using a harvester.

According to Ridhima, crop stubble burning accounts for nearly 14 per cent of the country’s black carbon emissions.

The highest number of fires is being seen in MP. About 10 farmers have already been detained this year in Sehore for burning wheat stubble that spread fire to nearby farms. Earlier in April, flames from stubble fire spread on almost 1,500 ha in Harda and Betul districts. A woman in the state died after catching fire in a farm.

State’s junior agriculture minister Balkrishna Patidar tells TOI, “We have been asking farmers to not burn crop residue as it is harmful not only for themselves, but also for the soil and environment. Still, the practice continues.”

There is no official data linking increase in combine harvester use with crop fires. But the Economic Survey 2018 highlights how farm mechanisation has increased tremendously. In 1960-61, about 93 per cent of farm power was from animate sources, which has reduced to 10 per cent now. Mechanical and electrical sources have increased from 7 per cent to 90 per cent.
“Multiple cropping and shortened cropping intervals leave little time to prepare for the next crop. It is too expensive to hire labour to clear stubble left behind by harvesters. Rural economy cannot absorb straw anymore for roofing of houses or granaries. Low commercial and economic value coupled with high costs of processing of residue reduce its usefulness for farmers. Burning it is cheaper and easier,” adds Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The Centre has allocated Rs 1,140.30 crore for a sub-mission on agriculture mechanisation in this year’s Union budget, substantially hiking the funds from Rs 525 crore in 2017-18. This is mainly to deal with crop stubble burning in NCR states, where the practice is one of the major reasons for severe air pollution.

“There should be ergonomic ways of managing stubble which will have to be supported by the government. In summer, fire spreads quickly, often burning the harvest itself and causing fire accidents,” explains GV Ramajaneyulu, executive director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.

via Large parts of India dotted with fires: Nasa images | India News – Times of India

Posted in Air Quality, Asia, India | Tagged Air Pollution, Chhattisgarh, crop-burning, forest fire, HAZE, India, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh | Leave a comment

Air pollution linked to fertility treatment failure

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

Women exposed to high levels of air pollution may have less success getting pregnant with fertility treatments or staying pregnant, compared to women breathing cleaner air, a South Korean study suggests.

Researchers analyzed pregnancy rates over nine years and more than 6,600 IVF cycles at a Seoul fertility clinic and found reduced conception rates and increased pregnancy losses among women exposed to the highest levels of five types of air pollution.

“Although the specific mechanism is unclear, high ambient air pollution has been suggested to affect processes of conception assisted by in vitro fertilization (IVF), which means the impact of air pollution can be profound in couples who are suffering from infertility,” said lead author Dr. Seung-Ah Choe of the School of Medicine at CHA University and the CHA fertility clinic in Seoul.

Past research has linked high concentrations of air pollutants produced by combustion of fossil fuels or wood to heart disease, stroke and inflammation, as well as infertility, the researchers note in Human Reproduction.

To see if pollution affects the success of fertility treatment, the researchers examined records for 4,581 women who underwent one or more IVF cycles from 2006 through 2014. They also used district-level pollution-monitoring data from 40 sites around the city to estimate each woman’s average hourly exposure during her fertility treatments to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone and tiny pollution particles known as PM 10.

These are major constituents of emissions from traffic vehicles, construction or industrial sites, Choe said in an email.

The researchers examined the effects of each pollutant at each of four stages in the IVF process, starting with ovarian stimulation to retrieve eggs, followed by embryo transfer to the uterus, then a hormonal test to detect early pregnancy and a later test to confirm ongoing pregnancy.

The women’s average age was 35 and half of them had two or more embryos transferred over the entire course of their IVF treatments. Overall, about 51 percent achieved any pregnancy.

Per cycle, there was a 9.4 percent rate of so-called biochemical pregnancy loss, when the first hormone test indicates a very early pregnancy, but the subsequent test indicates that it was not sustained. For later confirmed pregnancies, known as intrauterine pregnancy, the per-cycle loss rate was 38 percent.

Researchers found that pollution exposure during the first and third phases of the IVF process was associated with pregnancy losses. During the earliest phase, increased exposure, relative to other women, to nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide were tied to reductions of 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively, in the chances of attaining intrauterine pregnancy.

During the third phase of IVF, higher exposure to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and PM 10 were also associated with 7 percent to 8 percent lower odds of intrauterine pregnancy. Nitrogen dioxide and PM 10 exposure were also tied to 17 percent and 18 percent, respectively, higher chances of biochemical pregnancy loss.

“Basically their analyses showed that higher outdoor levels (of pollution) around the timing of ovarian stimulation and just after the embryo was transferred back to the mother predicted a failure to conceive and maintain pregnancy in invitro fertilization (IVF) patients,” Lindsey Darrow, an environmental epidemiologist at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health who wasn’t involved in the study, said in an email.

The results are limited by the fact that researchers didn’t have information about other exposures, such as smoking, the study team notes. And the analysis wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to determine whether or how air pollution might directly affect fertility.

Even though the mechanism behind the pregnancy loss is unknown, said Dr. Matthew Peterson of the University of Utah, who wasn’t involved in the study, “those of us who have investigated particle matter and other pollutants feel that there are negative effects that are mediated by a number of different pathways (such as) endocrine disrupting activities such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, trace chemical activities or other epigenetic modalities.”

For those looking to conceive via IVF, increased awareness can be helpful, said Darrow, for example, paying attention to the local Air Quality Index and avoiding going outside when pollutant concentrations are highest.

“But ultimately there is a limit to how much individuals can control their own air pollution exposures. Outdoor air pollution is one of those problems we can only really address through collective action,” she said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2Fkyc1U Human Reproduction, online April 5, 2018.

via Air pollution linked to fertility treatment failure | Reuters

Posted in Air Quality, Health Effects of Air Pollution, Medical Studies | Tagged Air Pollution, Health Effects of Air Pollution, PM10, Research | Leave a comment

Pollutionwatch: spring is often the worst time in UK for air pollution

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

Ammonia from farms mixes with factory emissions and traffic exhaust to create high levels of air pollution

Runners in this year’s London Marathon escaped breathing badly polluted air as westerly winds cleared springtime smog just before the race start. Images of spring include blossom and fresh green growth, but it is often our most polluted time of year, and air pollution frequently reaches the top level on the UK government’s 10-point scale.

In spring 2014 Paris instigated odd/even number plate bans and David Cameron memorably tweeted that he was cancelling his run due to air pollution. That year, spring particle pollution caused an estimated 600 early deaths across England and Wales.

Springtime particle pollution happens when factory emissions and traffic exhaust mix in the air with ammonia from farms. Fertiliser for seedlings, slurry spread on fields and animals let out from their winter housing together cause more ammonia in spring than at any other time of year.

This April, particle pollution has mainly been less than level 7 on the government’s scale. The cold March weather has delayed farm schedules. In mid-April potatoes were not yet in the ground and wheat and barley sowing was weeks later than normal. This may delay the seasonal ammonia release and extend our spring particle pollution into May.

via Pollutionwatch: spring is often the worst time in UK for air pollution | Environment | The Guardian

Posted in Air Quality, Europe, UK | Tagged Air Pollution, London, UK | Leave a comment

Dozens hospitalised as rubbish dump fire burns for fourth day

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Respro® UK Ltd

Firefighters are yet to extinguish a blaze at Yangon’s largest rubbish dump that has caused major air pollution problems in several townships on the city’s outskirts.

The fire broke out at Htein Bin rubbish dump in Hlaing Tharyar Township on Saturday, the authorities said. While it has been brought under control, Yangon City Development Committee official Aung Myint Maw said they were struggling to put it out completely.

“Since Monday evening the firefighters have been able to stop the fire from spreading and there are no new fires until now,” Aung Myint Maw, the deputy head at YCDC’s Environmental Conservation and Sanitation Department, told reporters earlier today.

“However, it’s not easy to extinguish the fire completely because it’s burning from the inside … Obviously it will keep burning for a few days.

“We are not very clear on the cause of the fire. At the moment our focus is on extinguishing it as soon as possible.”

A pall of smoke has descended over neighbouring townships, including Insein, Hlaing and Shwepyithar.

Health authorities have set up temporary clinics in some badly affected Hlaing Tharyar wards to provide assistance to residents.

A nurse at a temporary clinic set up in 20th quarter on Sunday, told Frontier they are providing free medicine and treatment. Most patients are suffering headaches and some have respiratory problems.

“We transferred about 40 people to hospital last night. Today though we’ve only received two patients,” said the nurse, who asked not to be named as she was not authorised to speak to the media.

When Frontier visited the site this morning fire department officials said they were employing 20 fire engines and 12 tankers to fight the blaze.

“It’s not that easy,” said U Myint Oo, chief of Hlaing Tharyar’s fire brigade. “When you try to extinguish it at the front, the flames go up at the back.

“At the moment we’re trying to ensure it doesn’t spread and then we’re soaking one spot after another with water.”

He said it was impossible to know when the fire would be completely extinguished.

“It seems like it will take some time,” he said. “The best thing would be if it rains. Even then, the rain will have to be rather heavy and it should last at least half a day.”