Sydney smoke crisis ‘longest on record’
Australian bushfires have caused unprecedented pollution in Sydney and along the country’s east coast, officials said yesterday, with smoke and dust burning residents’ eyes and prompting a spike in respiratory complaints. Hundreds of bushfires have burned out of control since September up and down the eastern seaboard, blanketing cities from Sydney to Brisbane in smoke for weeks on end. New South Wales Rural Fire Service said more than a dozen fires were burning near Sydney yesterday, including three that carried an emergency warning. Bushfires are common in Australia, but scientists say this year’s season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought fuelled by climate change.
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