Smoke fills Wollongong unit block after shopping trolley set alight in foyer

The blaze ignited inside the three-storey public housing block on Cliff Road with thick, black smoke billowing up through the stairwell at 8.39am on Wednesday, May 1.

"We got a call from a tenant, smoke had gone up through the stairwell and she was in a panic," Fire and Rescue NSW Wollongong Station Officer Greg Faulkner said.

"One of the tenants on the second floor pushed it [trolley] outside."

When firefighters arrived at the unit complex the trolley was on the lawn with its contents still burning.

The fire was extinguished and police officers sent to the scene to investigate.

The blaze caused minor damage to an electrical sub board at the unit block, with public housing officials called to assess damage and organise repairs.

This is not the first suspicious fire to erupt at the social housing block, after a car was set on fire with flames quickly spreading to a second vehicle and a boat in August 2023.