Toxic haze blanketed Sydney Tuesday triggering a chorus of smoke alarms to ring across the city, as Australians braced for "severe" weather conditions expected to fuel deadly bush blazes.
Fire engines raced office-to-office in the city centre with sirens blaring, as inland bushfires poured smoke laden with toxic particles into commercial buildings.
A regional fire headquarters miles from the nearest blazes was reportedly evacuated, while mask-wearing commuters choked their way through thick acrid air and the organisers of a harbour yacht race said it was too dangerous to proceed.
"The smoke from all the fires is just so severe here on the harbour that you just can't see anything, so it's just too dangerous," said spokeswoman Di Pearson of an event that normally foreshadows the famed Sydney-Hobart yacht race. "The vision is just so poor."
"This is the worst it's been, for sure," he told AFP. "It dries your throat. Even if you're not asthmatic, you feel it."
Tuesday had been expected to bring strong winds and high temperatures that made for "severe conditions where embers can be blown ahead of the fire into suburbs and threaten properties."
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