A Sydney furniture factory has been destroyed by a massive fire that forced the evacuation of more than 200 people from surrounding buildings.
Thick black smoke billowed through the buckled, charred roof of the 80 metre by 80 metre Cootes Furniture warehouse at Yennora after it caught fire about 12.30pm Monday.
Spot fires may flare up under rubble overnight and it's still to dangerous to enter the building and investigate the cause of the blaze, Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Ian Krimmer told AAP.
"We'll be keeping a couple of crews there throughout the night," he said.
"We can't let anyone inside because it's all collapsing in on itself."
Senior firefighters will head to the site on Tuesday and plan how to fully extinguish the fire.
It's understood police are interviewing the factory's owners and workers who were inside when the building burst into flames.
A forklift worker had tried to put out the flames but the fire became too strong, Fire and Rescue Superintendent Selwyn Mathias told reporters at the scene.
"The fuel load of furniture is extremely high ... the fire took hold rapidly," he said.
"Crews were confronted with a huge fire that was totally engulfing the building."
The 135 firefighters at the scene knew the factory couldn't be saved and instead successfully defended neighbouring buildings.
"That was the main priority," Supt Krimmer said.
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