Police slam the "negligent behaviour" of a person who informed the wrong family about a tragic logging death after listening in on a police scanner.

An eavesdropper informed the wrong family that a relative of their's had died following a forestry accident today.

A former television stuntwoman, whom rescuers spent 25 minutes reviving after a near-drowning on New Year's Day, has died after she was sent home from hospital.

The Fire Service is increasingly being sent to emergencies when an ambulance has been requested, statistics show.

A 22-year-old man has been arrested after a police officer was injured when she was dragged under a stolen patrol car last night.

Firefighters battled a blaze at a massage parlour in central Auckland this afternoon.

Fire crews are still dampening down hotspots after a bush fire destroyed one house and forced the evacuation of several others in Roxburgh overnight.

Dozens of drunk drivers, many with sober passengers, were caught by police near a popular campground despite warnings and a highly visible booze bus.

A woman is dead after a crash north of Queenstown this afternoon, taking the holiday road toll to six.

More fireworks than Guy Fawkes, and plenty of Chinese lanterns, kept Bay of Plenty firefighters hugely busy last night.

More than a quarter of all fire call-outs in the past financial year were false alarms, at a cost to taxpayers of up to $25 million.

A notoriously dangerous stretch of Northland beach has claimed the life of an Auckland man trying to pull his grandchildren from a rip.

Sea lice bites, swimmers' rash, summer rash - whatever you want to call it, it's rife at this time of year and drives swimmers crazy.

A teenager was in a critical condition last night after two cars collided and one spun off the road and burst into flames.