Police charge man over suspicious shop fire - Ashfield

A man will face court tomorrow charged over a suspicious fire in Sydney's Inner West last month.

Emergency services were called to a shop on Liverpool Road, Ashfield just before 2am on Friday 31 December 2021, after reports of a fire.

Fire & Rescue NSW attended and assisted five occupants who were found sitting on an awning after evacuating from the upstairs residential unit. No injuries were reported.

The blaze was extinguished with extensive damage caused to the ground floor shop.

Officers from Burwood Police Area Command attended and established a crime scene, which was forensically examined.

Detectives commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire which was deemed suspicious.

Following inquiries, investigators - with the assistance of the State Crime Command's Arson Squad - executed a search warrant at a home on Croydon Street, Croydon, just before 8am today (Friday 7 January 2022).

During a search of the premises, a number of items relevant to the investigation were seized.

The occupant, a 37-year-old man, was arrested and taken to Burwood Police Station where he was charged with damage property by fire/explosion more than $15,000.

He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court tomorrow (Saturday 8 January 2022).

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