[custom_adv] Smoke from Australia's bushfires blanketed Sydney on Tuesday, creating unhealthy air quality conditions for locals -- which measured 11 times the "hazardous" level in some parts of the city. New South Wales government's director of environmental health called the haze "unprecedented," Reuters reported. [custom_adv] Smoke has shrouded the city, which has a population of more than five million people, for several weeks now -- turning its normally blue skies orange and brown. [custom_adv] Around 2,700 firefighters were working to battle blazes in New South Wales on Tuesday, according to NSW Rural Fire Service, as 83 bushfires continue to burn across the state. [custom_adv] Many locals are experiencing sore eyes, nose and throat irritations, he added, but those with pre-existing conditions, as well as young children and the elderly, "were at particular risk," Broome added. [custom_adv] Ash has been washing up on the city’s beaches and the Air Quality Index has soared past the ‘hazardous’ threshold of 200, with flights delayed due to poor visibility. [custom_adv] The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge were barely discernible through the thick haze enveloping the city, with smoke stinging the eyes and making it difficult to breathe. [custom_adv] The number of people seeking treatment at Sydney hospitals increased by about 25 per cent, local media reported, citing Richard Broome, New South Wales state’s director of environmental heath, as saying. [custom_adv] Temperatures were forecast to soar to 42 degrees Celsius in the city’s west. Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, who is leading efforts to tackle more than 80 blazes across the state of New South Wales, said it would be a “very complex, very difficult day” for his team. [custom_adv] The wildfires have generated more hotspots in the past two days than any other country and the intensity of the blazes is greater than the rest of the world combined, according to Nasa satellite data. [custom_adv] National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellites detected 5,748 hotspots in Australia over the past 48 hours, more than the total number found in Brazil, Indonesia and India. [custom_adv] Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly shut down claims that his government’s approach to climate change has contributed in any material way to the current bush fire emergency.
