Two teenage boys charged with arson over Sydney blaze

Transcript

00:00 It was one of the biggest stories in Sydney this year.

00:05 The Surry Hills factory fire was labelled a once in a decade blaze and it engulfed the

00:10 historic building that once stood behind me here on Randall Street in Surry Hills right

00:15 next to Central Station.

00:17 Flames and smoke were visible across the city on that day in May and traffic was gridlocked

00:23 during afternoon peak hour.

00:25 The images and videos from this intense blaze will stay with many Sydney-siders for years

00:30 to come.

00:31 There were some fears at the time that there may have been people sleeping rough inside

00:36 the building at the time of the fire but police have since ruled that out.

00:40 More than 100 firefighters were called to fight this blaze which took days to extinguish

00:46 and the fire also damaged two other properties nearby which also had to be destroyed.

00:52 Dozens of neighbours were also forced to evacuate with many unable to return to their homes

00:57 for some weeks afterwards.

00:59 As you can see behind me, the remnants of this building have been bulldozed and what

01:03 remains is rubble until the owners of the property decide what to do with it next.

01:08 Alison, what's happened with the charges?

01:13 Well Jeremy, now three months on from the fire itself, charges have been laid.

01:18 The arson squad charging two 13-year-old boys with unlawful entry and destruction of property

01:24 using fire.

01:25 One of the 13-year-old boys has also been charged with two counts of shoplifting from

01:30 a nearby grocery store earlier that day.

01:33 And at the time of the fire, police questioned four teenage boys in relation to the incident

01:39 but no charges were laid at that time.

01:41 But now Sydney-siders may finally get some answers soon as to what exactly happened in

01:46 the lead up to the fire and what the circumstances were inside the building when these two teenage

01:51 boys appear in Children's Court in October.

01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]