NT Police suspect a fire that extensively damaged the NT Oriental Emporium in Coconut Grove was deliberately lit while the owners have said their worst nightmare had come true again.

Crime Division Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Malogorski reportedly told a press conference on Thursday afternoon he believed the fire was suspicious.

“The matter is being treated as suspicious and is being investigated as an arson,” he said.

“The matter is still ongoing.”

He said they did not have any suspects but called on the public to call Crime Stoppers with information.

Firefighters on seen at the business. Picture: Facebook

Store owners Kivi and Vicki Lay posted on Facebook about the fire, which follows the May 2018 fire which destroyed the the Lay Family’s (which includes Mr Lay’s brothers) Asian United Food Service on Bishop St, Woolner.

“Earlier this morning we woke to the news that a devastating fire had engulfed our store – we wished it was not true, but upon arrival we realised our worst nightmare had come true again,” the said.

“We want to thank the wider NT community for the outpouring of support and especially the efforts of our brave NT Police Fire and Emergency Services for their valiant efforts to try and save our store.

“We apologise to our loyal and wonderful customers for the inconvenience this has caused and we are currently making plans to relocate whilst the investigations take place.

Speaking to Mix 104.9 about 10am this morning, NT Fire and Rescue Service fire investigator Tony Miles said fire fighters could not go into the Bagot Rd building because of spot fires and smoke, and they had to wait on a structural engineer for a safety assessment.

Mr Miles said the fire began just before 3am.

“Crime scene has been established and NT Police are here, and they’re starting their inquiries…fire investigation will commence as soon as its safe to go in there and all the fires [have been]being put out and there’s not any smoke…”

“The fire is under control but it’s still burning inside, there’s the back of the building is collapsed at the roof, so it’s not safe for firefighters to enter just yet.

“So we’re having a structural engineer to come in to access and let us know when our firefighters can go in there and put the fire out properly.

The building has a lot of smoke and heat damage but didn’t spread to other buildings, he said.

NT Oriental Emporium on fire. Picture: Facebook

Due to the ongoing spot fires Mr Miles said the crews had not been able to look for anyone inside.

“There’s no indication that anybody’s inside but we haven’t had any reports of anyone missing or anything like that,” he said.

Mr Miles said Bagot Rd was closed for about three and a half hours this morning, opening back up around 6.37am.

“We are urging motorists to take care and just drive to conditions and obey all directions given out by police,” he said.

There were 20 to 25 firefighters there overnight and Mr Miles said they have organised a change of crews.

“They’ll still be a smoke coming out of the building for most of the day, I expect we’ll have crews there most of the day working on it,” he said.

The owners of the NT Emporium have been on scene and they are quite distraught, Mr Miles said.

The owners’ other store, Asian United Food Service in Woolner, burnt down in May 2018.

“They’re not taking it very well at this time,” Mr Miles said.