The boy is one of two 16-year-old youths who appeared before the Parramatta Children's Court Magistrate Sharon Holdsworth today, both charged with "recklessly destroying by means of fire" the Wentworthville Shopping Centre in Dunmore Street, Wentworthville on Monday July 21.
Police alleged the blaze which erupted at 4.40pm was deliberately lit with cigarette lighters and an accelerant.
More than $1 million in damage was caused to retail outlets and the centre's Bio-lo Discount store by the fire which was battled by more than a dozen NSW Fire Brigade units drawn from Sydney's west.
Magistrate Holdsworth declined to hear a bail application for one of the boys, who was arrested on Thursday at his parents Wentworthville home, until he had undergone psychiatric from Juvenile Justice Health.