Australia is engaged in its largest peacetime military mobilisation as more than 100 fires continue to rage across east of the country.
Cooler conditions took effect on Wednesday and Thursday, but fire chiefs are warning that more dangerous weather conditions will return by the weekend.
So far three people have died in out-of-control bushfires in just the last weekend, two of them apparently trying to flee fast-moving fire fronts in cars, while more than 170 homes were destroyed in New South Wales and Queensland.
The government has announced an unprecedented compulsory call-up of reserve soldiers to aid in containing the wildfires and subsequent clean up from the destruction left in their wake, with fires spreading out over more than 2.5 million acres.
Meanwhile, the difficult situation is compounded by the fact that due to smoke from the fires large swathes of territory are now enduring hazardous air quality with residents of much of New South Wales, including Sydney, being warned not to underestimate the danger of poor air conditions.
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