Australians face an unprecedented and potentially life-threatening health risk from smoke pollution caused by ongoing bushfires, respiratory physicians warn.

The fires — which have claimed 27 lives, more than 2000 homes and at least 10 million hectares of land — have sent smoke billowing into major cities and across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.

Queensland thoracic physician and AMA vice-president Dr Chris Zappala says Australia needs to “get cracking” on identifying the extent of the health risks.

While respiratory effects were intuitively an obvious area of research, an “open mind” was needed.