A ROW of shops has been left totally destroyed by an early morning fire.
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A triple-0 call was received at 1.15am to alert firefighters that a row of shops were on fire on the Castlereagh Highway at Coonamble.
Fire and Rescue NSW Zone Commander Garry Barber said the shops were well alight when crews arrived on scene.
"One of them was a former supermarket, an empty cafe and three or four other shops that shared a roof space," he said.
"We managed to head it off and save a real estate and Joblink Plus office on one end and a Chinese restaurant on the other end.
"There's approximately 40 metres of shops that have been burnt-out."
Zone Commander Barber said all of these shops were destroyed in the blaze and they included the former supermarket, a former cafe and a St Vincent de Paul charity shop.
"They're still smoldering and we'll have crews on site here probably all day," he said.
"We've got fire investigators coming from Sydney."
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Zone Commander Barber said it appears the blaze started in the former cafe, however, at this stage the cause was unknown.
"It was a vacant cafe and there's no reason it should have started there," he said.
Motorists are advised that traffic has been impacted on the Castlereagh Highway, between Yarran and Namoi streets.
Nobody was injured during the blaze.