A 17-YEAR-OLD has been charged with murder following investigations into a house fire 40km northwest of Lismore last week.

Emergency services were called to a rural property in Smiths Creek on Sunday August 16, following reports a property was well alight.

Crews from the Rural Fire Service attended and took several hours to extinguish the blaze.

Officers from Richmond Police District attended and established a crime scene after the body of a man, aged 64, was located inside.

Detectives from Richmond Police District - with assistance from the State Crime Command - established Strike Force Kumulla to investigate the circumstances surrounding the cause of the blaze.

On Friday, detectives arrested a 17-year-old male at a home in Kyogle.

He was taken to Casino Police Station where he was charged with murder, improperly interfere with a corpse and malicious damage by fire.

He was refused bail and will appear in a children's court at Parramatta today.