OMG Total Recall on Australia's East Coast!

BRISBANE is a city beseiged, ringed by bushfires and cloaked in a tawny haze of dust, all kicked up by the desert winds that brought chaos to Sydney and NSW early this morning.

An eerie fog of dust blanketed the Queensland capital, reducing visibility to less than 100m, and bringing traffic to a standstill in places as motorists turned on their headlights and hoped for the best to nose through the surreal conditions.

While the haze kept temperatures below the forecast 30-plus maximum, it also hampered efforts by firefighters to use aerial water bombers to contain blazes whipped up the winds that had driven the dust into the city.

Seven crews were battling a fire at Neurum, north of Brisbane, which jumped containment lines and threatened at least one home.more...