Firefighters dodge fireworks as another Melbourne tobacco store set alight

Firefighters have been forced to dodge exploding fireworks while fighting Melbourne's third tobacco shop blaze in less than a week.

The owner of the shop in the city's north begged arsonists to stop before an innocent person was killed.

The Craigieburn store was set alight at 3.30am on Sunday.

Witness Stephen Darnley said he heard explosions.

"The whole shop took off," he said.

Firefighters said they had to dodge exploding fireworks to put out the blaze.

Embers rained down on neighbouring homes around Smeaton Court, and at least one roof caught fire.

"It's not a good feeling thinking your house is going to go up," Nearby resident Sam Laiosa said.

Debris was strewn across yards.

Landlord Con Khalil rented the property to a woman, who is currently overseas, who ran the tobacco shop.

"I thought, 'Uh oh something has happened' but I wasn't thinking that was going to happen," he said.

"To the people who did that, please stop. Don't do it to somebody else."

A burnt-out getaway car was later found dumped in nearby Greenvale.

More than 30 tobacco shops across Melbourne have been torched since March last year.

The federal government has announced a major crackdown to try to stop the ongoing turf war.

The Australian Border Force will get a $188 million boost, including to help with using artificial intelligence.

Last week a tobacco store in Altona was hit by arson.