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A fire has ripped through a popular Sydney pub forcing 20 people trapped inside to clamber out of second storey windows and killing the venue's adopted rescue cat.
Emergency crews responded to reports of a fire at the Royal Exchange Hotel in Marrickville, in Sydney's inner west, just after 12am on Tuesday.
The fire is understood to have been deliberately lit, with witnesses saying they had seen a man throwing what looked like a Molotov cocktail into the building and a bottle of accelerant later found nearby.
Fire has ripped through The Royal Exchange Hotel in Marrickville (pictured) with investigators saying the blaze was deliberately lit
Beloved pub cat 'Whisky' (pictured) perished in the blaze and was found sheltering under an upstairs bed
Staff, patrons and residents were inside the building as the ground and first floor became engulfed in flames, forcing them to climb out through windows
