Police and investigators from Fire and Rescue NSW will comb through the wreckage of a former hat factory and another empty building that were engulfed in flames in the Sydney CBD.
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Crews were called to Randle Street in Surrey Hills on Thursday afternoon to find the two multi-storey buildings completely alight.
Police arrived shortly afterwards to cordon off the scene, with nearby streets closed off and the eastern suburbs light rail line shut down.
Nearby residents were ordered to evacuate, as the fire sent plumes of toxic smoke into the sky.
The only reported injury from the fire was a minor burn suffered by a firefighter.
Helicopter footage showed all floors of the building, near Central Station and Elizabeth Street, engulfed in flames. Fire crews were spraying the building from the street and from aerial ladders.
More than 100 Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters, from 20 fire trucks and multiple stations, were working to contain and extinguish the blaze. It was a "10th alarm" fire, the "most severe type of fire".
The building was starting to collapse during the afternoon, while the inferno began to spread to several neighbouring buildings, including residential apartments.
At least one vehicle in the vicinity was destroyed by fire.
There was minor damage to nearby buildings, mainly from the extreme heat.
The fire was described on Thursday by Fire and Rescue NSW Acting Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell as one of the largest fires in the city for years.
He said it was lucky no one was badly hurt in the extremely dangerous conditions.
Fire and Rescue NSW said the fire was contained shortly before 7pm, with about 120 firefighters attending the blaze, by which time it had destroyed two buildings.
"Using specialist appliances and equipment, including ladder trucks and RPAS (drones), they successfully stopped the blaze from engulfing other nearby buildings, including residential apartments," it said in a statement.
A dark plume of smoke was visible across the central city through the afternoon.
Multiple Triple Zero calls were received when flames started engulfing the seven-storey building on Randle Street just after 4pm.