Residents urged to limit time outdoors as smoke pushes north from bushfires
Health experts and authorities are urging people living north of Victoria's bushfires to limit their time outdoors as a weather system pushes bushfire smoke across the state and into New South Wales.
People living north of Victoria's bushfires have been urged to limit their time outside to reduce their exposure to smoke, with the state's Environment Protection Authority (EPA) issuing an air quality warning.
Air quality has been rated as poor on Sunday in areas throughout Victoria and New South Wales as a weather system pushes bushfire smoke north.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said a statewide air quality notice was in place due to the ongoing bushfire disaster, and she urged vulnerable people or people with respiratory illnesses to stay inside.
The smoke from bushfires is associated with both short- and long-term health risks. (Supplied: DEECA)
The air quality notice was liable to change according to the wind conditions, she said.
Smoke was moving across parts of New South Wales including the Riverina, and over the ACT, where emergency service authorities said it could stay for several days.
Sydneysiders also reported smoke on Sunday morning thought to be coming from the Victorian bushfires and several fires burning in southern parts NSW.
Fires are continuing to burn across Victoria. (AAP: Michael Currie)
Emergency services received Triple Zero (000) calls about smoke and poor air quality in Greater Sydney, while the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) also said people had called from the Central Coast and Newcastle.
The RFS said the smoke was from the Brassknocker Fire on the state's south coast and bushfires in Victoria.
The smoke was being blown by the southerly change and was expected to clear through the day.
Easing winds could let smoke dissipate
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said the NSW Riverina was experiencing smoky conditions, while a NSW government website rated the region's air quality "very poor" and urged people to avoid outdoor physical activity if they developed symptoms such as cough or shortness of breath.
Ms Bradbury said a weather system centred over the Great Australian Bight was pushing a high-pressure ridge over Victoria, Tasmania and southern NSW.
"Under this sort of weather system, we do see the winds tending southerly … that's why we're seeing all this smoke being pushed northwards from Victorian bushfires across NSW and Canberra."