If you thought the Brisbane horizon had looked a little hazy the past few days, you don't necessarily need a trip to the optometrist.
Hazard-reduction burns in D'Aguilar National Park near Brookfield have produced a thick layer of smoke that is sitting over much of the western suburbs.
Jack Cosgrove from the Parks and Wildlife Service said this could be one of the last windows for Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES), the rural fire brigade and Parks and Wildlife to conduct burns before the weather deteriorated.
"This is our peak time of year where we can do some landscape burning," he said.
"It's good for the environment — so it's fire-adaptive vegetation that needs fire — and it's also good from a community protection point of view to provide some lower fuel levels around some communities."
He said recent wet weather provided the perfect opportunity for the burns.
"We had that rain a couple of weeks ago so trying to jump off the back of that, we've got good soil moisture and we've also got the right weather conditions to safely conduct the burns," he said.
"We've been discussing this burn weekly since about January so this is the first suitable window where we've had a number of days where we've had the right weather conditions."
The work means when bushfire season starts in a few months' time, the land will be as prepared as possible.
"The impacts that we have today during a planned burn will likely be far less than if we have a bushfire in there in September, so it's really important that we jump on those windows and try and manage that fuel as best we can," he said.
Shaune Toohey, the manager of bushfire mitigation for QFES, said bushfire season was due to start about August.
"There will be a bushfire in and around Brisbane at some point in the next 12 months," he said.
Health impacts
While the haze is limiting visibility in some areas it is also creating a "triple whammy" effect for people with respiratory issues such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic bronchitis.
"On the one hand we've got COVID, then we've got influenza. The third whammy is the air pollution," Queensland Children's Hospital respiratory physician Nitin Kapur said.
Dr Kapur urged parents to ensure their children with asthma were taking their preventer medication and carrying their relievers with them in case of an attack.
"What we can prevent, we should prevent," he said.
"We do know that children who have asthma, there is known increased evidence of wheezing, cough, sore throats in children less than 12 years of age who are exposed to smoke.
"There's also increased episodes of admission through the emergency department when there are increased bushfires."
Dr Kapur advised people with respiratory conditions to stay indoors as much as possible with their windows and doors shut during hazard burn-offs and bushfires.
"I know it's difficult for children to wear face masks, but adults with COPD are recommended to wear a face mask when there is excessive smoke exposure," he said.
He also encouraged Queenslanders to stay up to date with their COVID-19 and flu vaccines to protect themselves this winter.
Is it impacting our sunsets?
While south-east Queenslanders are no strangers to spectacular sunsets, many might have noticed the sky looking particularly pretty these past few days.
The Bureau of Meteorology's Livio Regano said the smoky haze might not have as much to do with the vivid colours as some might think.
"Dust does have the effect of reddening the sky and various things like smoke and ash can do the same thing," he said.
"I think the main reason we're seeing prettier sunsets now is simply the time of year.
"As winter approaches, you get higher cloud, you get ice cloud — they tend to be layered high, they're in the atmosphere and even when the Sun dips below the horizon they can still reflect light from the underside."
