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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "Countless pensioners were forced to choose between heating and eating all whilst the government buried its head in the sand for months on end, ignoring those who were really suffering."

Large plumes of smoke that rise from intense fires, that can burn for weeks on end, sometimes reach the upper atmosphere to be picked up by the jet stream - a zone of strong winds, close to the level at which planes fly.

Beverly Craig said her son Casey, 14, and 12-year-old daughter Autumn "go into meltdown" anytime they go near school so they have been off for months on end.

“Our area is a very densely populated area, so even more damage could have been done. But it was stopped before it could burn more communities in my district, but they fought days on end to put out those fires.”

Elio also helped workers with their own health problems, most frequently headaches or back pains, borne of a life of sitting for hours on end.