Anonymous
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The 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires. I was a volunteer firefighter. Spent three weeks breathing smoke, ash, and burning chemicals from destroyed buildings. When the fires were done, my lungs weren’t. I developed reactive airways that trigger on smoke, perfume, exhaust, cleaning products. The fire service gave me a medal. My lungs gave me a disability. I went from running into burning buildings to not being able to walk past someone smoking a cigarette.
Home is fine. Air purifiers. The problem is fire season — every summer now. Australia is getting worse.
The fire service respiratory health program is decent. They acknowledged my reactive airway disease was fire-related. But they call it ‘occupational asthma,’ not chemical sensitivity. The fragrance and cleaning product reactions they can’t explain.
This is a personal experience, not medical advice. ImACanary.com makes no causation claims.
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