500 firefighters battle blaze in southeast Australia

Authorities in New South Wales issued an emergency warning on Sunday as bushfires spread through parts of Sydney.

Some 500 firefighters were called in to help battle the blaze, which began on Saturday and had already engulfed around 1,000 hectares of bushland, according to the New South Wales fire department.

Nobody was hurt and no homes were damaged.

The commissioner of the New South Wales rural fire service, Shane Fitzsimmons said the blaze had been “elevated to an emergency warning alert status and that's because we are seeing the fire behave very aggressively.”

“It's spreading to the east and to the north and that's resulted in a number of emergency alerts being issued to different communities that are likely to be impacted by the fire.”

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull praised the firefighters and volunteers battling the fire on Sunday.

"This huge blaze has been fought in very high temperatures, very high winds, unseasonal conditions, and has been done in a way that has seen, to date, no injuries and no serious damage to property," he told reporters.

Police have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.

Australia is regularly hit by raging bushfires in the summer months.

(CGTN)