This paper presents new evidence of the causal effect of air pollution on Australian health outcomes, using the Black Saturday bushfires (BSB) in 2009 as a natural experiment. This event was one of the largest bushfires in Australian history and emitted approximately four million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. We use data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamic Australia (HILDA) panel and compare the health status of individuals who were living in affected and unaffected regions before and after the event. Using a triple differences procedure, we further examine whether a difference in vulnerability to bushfire smoke exists comparing people living in urban or regional areas. We find that ambient air pollution had significant negative effects on health and that the magnitudes were actually larger for individuals residing in urban areas. •Examine the causal effect of air pollution on health from Australian bushfires.•Individuals exposed to pollutants had significantly poorer health outcomes.•Robust deficits appear across various objective and subjective health indicators.•People in major cities are more affected, likely from pre-existing pollutant exposure.•Results also vary by markers of socioeconomic status.