A large fire engulfed a seven-story building in Sydney, Australia today, causing parts of the structure to collapse and sweeping smoke and ash around the city. The building in Sydney's Surry Hills district was an old hat factory that was planned to be converted into a hotel, according to a recent development application lodged with city authorities. Authorities said that more than 50 people were evacuated from the area close to the city's Central Station. More than 120 firefighters and 35 fire trucks have been deployed to contain the blaze. Fire and Rescue units say that it would be a "substantial and very prolonged" effort to extinguish the blaze completely. They said that they had received multiple triple zero calls just after 4pm when flames started engulfing a seven-storey building at Randle Street in Surry Hills. Parts of the building had collapsed, and flames spread to nearby residential apartments.

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