Mega Blaze Warning: Sydney on Alert for Huge Bushfire

About 100 bushfires are raging in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), with the most severe forming into a “mega blaze” north of Sydney.

More than 2,000 firefighters are battling bushfires, which escalated in intensity late on Thursday.

Footage of one blaze on the southern fringe of the city showed firefighters fleeing as flames surged forward.

Australia’s largest city has been blanketed by thick smoke all week, causing a rise in medical problems.

Since October, bushfires have killed six people and destroyed more than 700 homes across Australia.

The severity of the blazes so early in the fire season has caused alarm, and prompted calls for greater action to tackle climate change.

More than 1.6 million hectares of land in NSW have been burnt already. Fires have also raged across Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Fires spanned the entire NSW coastline on Friday, with some sparking emergency warnings amid hot and windy conditions.

Authorities confirmed three fires had merged into a “mega blaze” north of Sydney on Friday, covering more than 300,000 hectares. That blaze is about the size of greater Sydney, officials said.

Many fires have raged for weeks, feeding off tinder-dry conditions from a severe drought which has affected much of the nation.

“We are in for another tough day,” said NSW Rural Fire Service assistant commissioner Rob Rogers, adding that several properties had been destroyed in the past 24 hours.

Fire crews from the US and Canada arrived in NSW this week to help tackle the blazes.