Firefighters from Glen Innes Fire and Rescue were called out to reports of a house fire in Ferguson Street at 3.08am on Sunday, December 6.

The fire was called in by the local police when they noticed it on their nightly patrol.

Upon police inspection prior to firefighters' arrival they discovered two squatters asleep in the attached unit.

The squatters were removed by police and suffered no injuries.

READ ALSO:

On arrival at the scene, firefighters were confronted with a working fire in the second unit of an old weatherboard block of units.

The crew immediately got to work, with the use of two hose lines, the fire was under control within half an hour and fully extinguished in under two hours.

"The fire was starting to rapidly advance, impinging on the second unit where the squatters were located," Captain Earl Sharman said.

"Although it did not break through into the second unit, it had burnt through two rooms in the short period."

Captain Sharman said the fire is being treated as suspicious.

"It was an unoccupied unit, there was no power on site, and nobody in there, we are thinking it was suspicious," he said.

The abandoned units were believed to be vacant but on arrival crews found police already on scene assisting in the removal of two squatters from the first unit.

Captain Sharman said the fire appeared to have been started outside against the chimney.

"It ran up the side of the weatherboards and inside to the pine lining of the house and developed from there," he said.

Police, ambulance and Essential Energy crews were all in attendance.

Investigations into the cause of the fire are now in the hands of Glen Innes Police.