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.

Shot in both legs, Constable Snow fell, screaming for help. One bullet severed an artery in his leg and he was bleeding to death.

A Christmas party on a luxury yacht turned tragic with the "suspicious death" of a party-goer.

Railway lines near an Auckland train station have been closed after the discovery of a person's body early today, police said.

A lethal combination of soaring temperatures and high winds gave the New South Wales bushfire season a vicious jolt with more than 80 fires raging across the state.

The sentencing of two companies and a company director over a fatal coolstore explosion in the Waikato has given firefighters closure.

Big fines and reparation bills have been given to two companies and a company director charged over last year's fatal Waikato coolstore fire.

An investigation is underway after a unmanned fire truck took off from a station and ended up down a bank metres short of a house.

New specialist traffic officers will be used to issue speeding tickets, freeing police to concentrate on fighting crime.

Blood, fat and discarded pieces of butchered animals were spread 15km on SH2 after a tailgate opened on a truck.

Officers searching for a runaway car were stunned to suddenly see "sparks flying and the car heading straight towards them" at an intersection.

A police recruitment drive is aiming to almost double the number of female police officers working the beat.

Police say a gunshot was reported in Hastings about midday today.

The grieving family of a teenager killed in a high-speed, head-on crash say they will never get over his death.