TUESDAY, 9AM:
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ORANGE Police are treating the fire in a cool store shed in Telopea Way last night as suspicious.
Police are following leads this morning after reports three teenage boys of Aboriginal appearance were seen running from the shed prior to the outbreak of the fire.
MONDAY, 8.30PM:
THE Rural Fire Service has acted swiftly to extinguish a fire which broke out in a shed on Telopea Way on Monday evening.
The blaze started at about 6.30pm in a vacant shed opposite the north Orange shopping centre, adjacent to the Waratahs sports grounds car park.
Fortunately, the North West Orange Rural Fire Brigade was practising drills at its nearby base when members of the crew noticed the plume of dark smoke.
The crew was already on its way to fight the fire when they received the triple-0 call out.
They were joined at the scene by the Orange Rural Fire Brigade, and between them they were able to first control and then extinguish the fire in under two hours.
The fire was also attended by 11 firefighters from Orange Fire and Rescue NSW division.
RFS Duty Officer Brett Bowden said the cause of the fire was yet to be determined, although it was "potentially suspicious".
"Apparently there were a couple of people seen leaving the area just before the fire," he said.
"But that's in the hands of the police, who will no doubt be investigating."
The blaze in the shed, which is a former cool store for fruit, was fueled by the building's polystyrene insulation, as well as old furniture which was being stored there.
Mr Bowden described the firefighting effort as "a pretty good save", explaining that the damage had been limited within the 20x30-metre shed, with no adjacent buildings affected.