The blaze erupted at the public housing brick property in South Street about 4.30pm on Tuesday with the contents of the sparsely furnished home destroyed.

“We could see it from the station, when we rolled out,” fire brigade incident controller Sean Crosthwaite said.

Neither of the two tenants were home, but a woman occupying a front unit that adjoins the charred flat received help from paramedics for breathing difficulties after evacuating her premises.

An initial probe found multiple starting points for the fire.

Detective Andrew Leonard, of Wodonga police, said the address had been regularly visited by officers during his 12 years in the city and was known to have transitory tenants.

He said a group of youths were seen leaving the scene and police were keen to speak with them.

They were reported to have run eastwards towards Church Street, with gutted property diagonally opposite the South Street ambulance station.

Damage to the two-bedroom property is estimated to be more than $150,000.

It took firefighters 15 minutes to bring the fire under control.

About 16 firefighters with four trucks tackled the inferno, which also caused slight damage to a neighbouring garage.

Power workers were also on site to attend to the electricity supply to the block.

Police forensic officers will be at the property on Wednesday for further investigation.