Australian bushfires have caused unprecedented pollution in Sydney and along the country's east coast . Smoke and dust is burning residents' eyes and prompting a spike in respiratory complaints. Hundreds of bushfires have burnt out of control since September, up and down the eastern seaboard, blanketing cities from Sydney to Brisbane in smoke for weeks on end. The New South Wales department of environment made clear  on Thursday, the extent of the crisis . It declared bushfires and dust had caused some of the highest air pollution ever seen  in Australia.<br />''<br />''A spokesperson said, the region has experienced other periods of poor air quality that lasted several weeks, including the 1994 Sydney bushfires and the Black Christmas bushfires of Dec 2001-Jan 2002.He added, this event  however, is the longest and the most widespread in the records. New South Wales Rural Fire Service said more than a dozen fires were burning near Sydney on Thursday, including three that carried an emergency warning.<br />''<br />''For three weeks the city has seen almost daily air quality warnings. Bushfires are common in Australia, but scientists say this year's season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought fueled by climate change.<br />''<br />''New South Wales health officials said more people with asthma were turning up at hospitals, and ambulance call-outs for breathing problems were up 24 percent in the week to 1st December.<br />''<span style="color: #222222;"><br />''On Thursday, Sydney's air quality index registered fine particulate pollution small enough to penetrate deep inside the lungs at over 160 parts per million, far above levels considered to be safe.   </span><br />