Thirteen weatherboard home units and six
businesses, including the local historical centre in Inverell's CBD have been destroyed by fire today.
At about 1.30am, a resident of the unit block was woken by smoke alarms sounding within the complex.
As he went to investigate, the man found smoke coming from an unoccupied unit in the Otho Street
complex.
When police arrived moments later, the twelve
residents were evacuated from the unit block as fire fighters worked to bring the blaze under control.
The cause of the fire is not known at this stage but thought not to be suspicious at this early stage of the investigation.
There were no reports of injury as a result of the fire.
Specialist forensic personnel are expected to begin their inquiries on site later today.
New England Local Area Command detectives will prepare a report for the coroner.
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