‘Your car’s outside a building on fire’: Sydney warehouse erupts in flames

T-shirts, vinyl records and sports equipment were destroyed when a fire tore through a warehouse, just hours after a worker had locked up for the night.

A fire has gutted a Sydney warehouse packed with sporting equipment and band and theatre merchandise, with one worker arriving to find the building “completely ablaze” just hours after leaving it late on Wednesday night.

About 60 firefighters were called to the fire in Marrickville’s industrial estate that broke out just before 3.30am, closing roads and covering the inner suburb with thick smoke.

Isaac Broadbent, who works for The Araca Group, a company specialising in music and theatre merchandise, said the burnt-out building was filled with flammable stock.

“The building was full of cardboard boxes, T-shirts, tour programs, vinyl records, mugs, hats, beanies. Whatever caused the fire, all that would have gone up in seconds,” he said.

Araca Group staff Craig Atkins and Isaac Broadbent were woken up to sirens and a phone call from emergency services after their workplace went up in flames. Photo: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Mr Broadbent was alerted to the blaze by police in the early hours.

“At about 3.30am I got a phone call from the police letting me know my car was parked outside a building that’s currently on fire,’” he said.

“They called to check if I was inside the building, thankfully I wasn’t.”

Mr Broadbent rushed to the site and arrived to find the entire warehouse engulfed in flames.

“I was in the building at 11pm, and within three hours it was completely ablaze. I’m fairly certain the building’s been condemned and will have to be bulldozed.”

Mr Broadbent was inside the building only hours before it erupted in flames. NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Emergency services were called shortly before 3.30am. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

The fire was brought under control by 5.30am, but Cook Rd between Addison Rd and Victoria Rd remained closed on Thursday morning.

Firefighters were still trying to extinguish the blaze as of 7.30am but confirmed they had prevented it from spreading to any neighbouring businesses.

Firefighters try to contain the blaze. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

The cause of the fire is unknown. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Fire and Rescue NSW’s Greg Rankin told Today there were no reports of anyone inside the building at the time or firefighters being injured.

He said the area was under a flight path, with crews liaising with airport authorities and police as flights started arriving in Sydney.

“We had our drone go up and do a search of the area,” he said.

“The smoke is … settled down, it’s staying quite low-level.

“(Firefighters have) checked the structure next door and there was no fire penetration into that, which has been great, so they’ve contained the fire to that property of origin.”

The cause of the fire is so far unknown.

Police officers are expected to examine the scene once it has been declared safe, but the cause of the blaze remains unknown.

Residents were urged to keep their doors and windows closed to avoid the effects of the lingering smoke.

Anyone with information about this incident to contact Marrickville police or Crime Stoppers.

Originally published as ‘Your car’s outside a building on fire’: Sydney warehouse erupts in flames