Dramatic photographs show orange sky above Auckland after smoke from Australian wildfires travelled to New Zealand | London Evening Standard

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Dramatic photographs show orange sky above Auckland after smoke from Australian wildfires travelled to New ZealandA group stop to look at the sky in Totara Park, Auckland, after it was turned orange by smoke from the wildfires in AustraliaGetty Images

The effects of the devastating wildfires ravaging Australia were clearly seen in New Zealand as the sky above Auckland turned bright orange.

The smoke, which travelled from Australia, blanketed the sky of the North Island city in a vibrant hue on Sunday morning.

The city is more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) from south eastern Australia, where the bushfires have swept across three states, devastating communities and leaving 24 dead.

After the orange sky appeared, police in Auckland were inundated with calls from anxious residents and were forced to issue a warning, asking people to stop calling the emergency services.

A plane flys into land in the tobacco coloured skies over Manukau city photographed from Totara Park in Auckland, New ZealandGetty Images

Zimena Dormer-Didovich said it was unsettling and felt "apocalyptic".

"We're in Auckland, New Zealand. That's why this is so shocking to us - we're so far away yet this smoke is so intense," Dormer-Didovich said.

The sky above Auckland's Sky Tower turns orange as smoke from the Australia wildfires arrives in New ZealandAP

"My 14-year-old's asthma is playing up, and I'm starting to notice that my breathing is slightly affected too."

The bushfires in Australia have killed 24 people, destroyed more than 1,500 homes and burnt through more than 5.25 million hectares (13 million acres) since September.

The orange sky prompted residents to call the emergency servicesGetty Images

Sunday saw milder temperatures that brought hope of a respite from wildfires.

The Rural Fire Service says 150 fires are still active, 64 of them uncontrolled.

A view of orange skies in Auckland, New Zealand, from smoke plumes caused by bushfires TWITTER @ZIMENAJ via REUTERS

It came as Australian Prime Minister defended his leadership and his government's record on climate change .

Mr Morrison has faced widespread criticism for taking a family vacation in Hawaii at the start of the wildfire crisis, his sometimes distracted approach as it has escalated and his slowness in deploying resources.

He was heckled last week when he visited a township in New South Wales in which houses had been destroyed and which was home to one of three volunteer firefighters who have died in the crisis so far.

On Saturday, Mr Morrison announced that, for the first time in Australian history, 3,000 army, navy and air force reservists will be thrown into the battle against the fires .

He also committed $14 million to leasing fire-fighting aircraft from overseas.