Stories making the headlines around the regions today include an adventurous 3-year-old escaping kindergarten and Eastern Bay services kept busy with a deadly house fire and a scrub fire.
A gate Pa mother is demanding answers after her 3-year-old son managed to escape from his kindergarten unnoticed by staff and walk across a busy road alone.
Two fires overnight kept Eastern Bay emergency services busy. A woman died in a house fire in Taneatua this morning. Last night a lightning storm may have been the cause of scrub fires in Kawerau.
![Several thousand people packed Kerikeri's main street. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/KHWJUGICRMAZUBE6XKE3RKMCDY.jpg?auth=dda179fffac1b9e1624ee07738a107c7c2af2ffec19985d5165602d8782a42e7&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
A judge has praised an officer who "placed his life on the line" by standing in front of a man wielding a high-powered rifle.