The clean-up from a fire that completely gutted a long-standing cafe in Orange's main street on Monday afternoon is ongoing, with Summer Street remaining partly closed and shops in the area unable to open as investigations into the blaze continue.
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As of 7.30am on Tuesday morning, the northern side of the road between Sale and Anson streets was still closed due to the instability of the building which houses Cafe Latte, it and the second-story apartment were destroyed by the fire.
The affected block has reopened to westbound traffic however the eastbound traffic will remain closed and detours are in place, with decisions regarding access and the reopening of that section of road expected to be made on Tuesday.
While the St George Bank will be open, businesses directly surrounding the destroyed building will be unable to open, which include Westfund, Hartfords, Games & More, Sheer Radience, Second Nature Aquarium s, Upper House, Vivid and Flirt.
Although the blaze was brought under control on Monday afternoon fire crews remained on site overnight and were still monitoring the situation on Tuesday morning to ensure the fire didn't reignite and was completely extinguished.
Emergency services initially received reports of the incident at about 11.30am on Monday, with staff from Fire and Rescue NSW's Orange, Bathurst and Kelso stations all being called in to help fight the blaze, which escalated through the afternoon.
Late on Monday afternoon, a spokesperson from the Orange stations confirmed 25 personnel were on site including the management team from the Bathurst zone office.
At that point, there were fears about the integrity of the destroyed building by also for damage in the surrounding structures, the source of the fire remains unconfirmed, with police expected to begin an investigation when it is deemed completely extinguished.
"We have to wait for the blaze to be extinguished before we can conduct an investigation," Central West Police District Chief Inspector Peter Atkins said, on Monday afternoon.
Fire and Rescue NSW confirmed there had been no injuries to the public and the structures directly surrounding the building were all believed to be unoccupied due to the public holiday.
The owners of Cafe Latte, Aaron and Emma Wright, confirmed the shopfront had been completely destroyed and said they were 'devastated' on social media, however vowed to return 'bigger and stronger' in the future.
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