A two-storey waterfront home on Sydney's northern beaches went up in flames on Thursday night in a blaze that authorities suspect may have been deliberately lit.
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The tile and timber home on Barrenjoey Road in Palm Beach was completely engulfed in fire when firefighters arrived about 9.30pm, according to Fire and Rescue NSW superintendent Greg Rankin.
About 20 firefighters took roughly an hour to extinguish the blaze. No one was injured.
"It's an isolated spot and, with houses on either side under threat, we wanted to make sure we had sufficient resources to prevent it spreading," Mr Rankin said.
Firefighters succeeded in putting out the fire before neighbouring properties were damaged, he said.
The site has been declared a crime scene. Police and specialists firefighters stayed until 11pm on Thursday and returned to the destroyed property on Friday morning to conduct further investigation.
Mr Rankin said it was unclear how the blaze became so big.
"We've just got to determine the cause and that might give us some clue about why it spread so quickly," he said.
The house is on an exclusive row of tightly-held waterfront properties. The last home sold nearby, which has a pool and jetty, went for $5.46 million in 2006.
Police are appealing for anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/
