Firefighters have been kept busy with separate blazes in the Hunter overnight.
Crews from Rutherford, Maitland and East Maitland were called to a single storey home on Capper Street at Telarah just after 9.30pm on Tuesday to find the house up in flames.
They took about half an hour to control the fire which caused damage to about 50 percent of the property
Police say the house was unoccupied and they are treating the fire as suspicious.
Meanwhile, fire has caused extensive damage to the interior of a former butcher shop and general store at Muswellbrook.
Crews from Muswellbrook and Aberdeen were called to Richmond Street just after 1.20am on Wednesday and took about an hour to extinguish the blaze in the vacant building.
