A newsagents building in Norwich was damaged after a fire in a nearby skip.
Two fire appliances, one from Earlham and one from Carrow, attended the blaze in Earlham Green Lane after a call shortly after 5.30am today.
Crews used main and hose reel jets and wore breathing apparatus to extinguish the blaze.
There was some damage to the rear of the shop.
Simon Mason, fire investigation officer, said that two seats of fire were identified, in a wheelie bin and in a skip.
Mr Mason noted that the yard was near to houses and there had been 'potential for threat to life', and the incident could have escalated as a truck was parked in the yard and there were piles of flammable material.
The fire damaged a wooden store building used by some of the shops, melted guttering at the back of Kamajen off-licence, scorched the brick wall and caused damage in the yard.
Fire fighters extinguished it before it could spread to the felt roof, or spread through the windows into the building.
David Willis, proprietor of Kamajen off-licence, said he received a text message to say what happened and drove straight there from his home in Long Stratton.
He said that damage was limited but phone lines were taken out of action by the fire, and he praised the swift actions of the fire service.
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