There are difficult scenes in Forbes this week with a local business now boarded up in the aftermath of a devastating fire.

Firefighters battled the blaze through the night in an effort to contain and extinguish the fire which has destroyed the entire contents of Blue Sky Outdoor Experts.

Blue Sky owners Mick and Karen Roylance, and their team, have extended their thanks to all the emergency services who attended, as well as the wonderful community of Forbes, Parkes and surrounds who have offered their support.

“We will keep everyone updated with our next steps once the investigations are complete,” their Facebook post said.

“We will come back from this stronger than ever.”

The community’s response has been an outpouring of support for the family and the long-established business.

Emergency services were called at 10.27pm on Sunday 4 May and firefighters were on site for at least 12 hours.

NSW Fire and Rescue Forbes station Captain Mark Willis described it as a very, very difficult fire.

“We had a large problem with explosions – large gas cylinders and small gas cylinders – there was no way we could have entered the building,” he said, explaining firefighters fought the fire from outside.

Their focus was on preventing the fire from spreading to the other attached buildings – particularly from spreading next door to Repco where there would be additional hazards.

“(We were) trying to cool down walls and things to stop anything from expanding, which we successfully did,” Mr Willis said.

“The Repco store has a little bit of smoke damage and a small amount of water damage.”

Forbes Fire and Rescue crews were supported by their Parkes colleagues as well as Forbes Rural Fire Service appliances.

Police and NSW Ambulance paramedics were also in attendance.