Fire fighters took 30 minutes to battle a fire which appears to have started in the Flagstaff Bakehouse kitchen and spread to the neighbouring roast shop.

A man who was seriously injured after he poured petrol on a brazier and set it alight is being treated at the National Burn Centre.

The Porirua house where Pita Tekira shot police dog Gazza was badly damaged in a fire last night.

The death of a 79-year old Whanganui woman in a house fire could have been prevented with a working smoke alarm.

Firefighters in Dunedin are tackling a fire in a unit, which is threatening properties next door.

Two fires in Feilding early this morning are thought to be connected, and are being treated as suspicious.

Five fire crews are at the scene of a blaze that appears to have broken out in a campervan in Christchurch.

Firefighters are battling a large blaze on State Highway 1 south of Taupo this morning which has claimed three buildings on one property.

Fire investigators have launched an investigation into a suspicious fire in South Auckland tonight.

A fishing vessel is on fire at the Port of Lyttelton.

Residents in parts of Dunedin are being told to stay indoors due to smoke from a fire at a rubbish tip.

A house in the process of being sold has been destroyed by fire in Northland.

A Hamilton apartment block that severely damaged by fire early today is believed to have started after an occupant fell asleep smoking a cigarette, neighbours say.

An ammonia leak that threatened to force the evacuation of Bluff has been contained.

Fire services are searching for a person in a South Island property that had caught fire after they received reports the home was inhabited.

A fire that engulfed an Auckland home this evening has now been extinguished.

Fire crews were last night fighting a fire at a commercial property in the northern Waikato settlement of Tuakau.

A building has been severely damaged in a fire at a West Auckland beach this morning, with fire crews rushing to the scene at 9.46am.

The Fire Service is attending a large house fire in West Auckland.

Nobody was injured in a fire that "severely damaged" a Horowhenua house last night, but it's unclear if anyone was inside when flames took hold.

A person is in hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at a quarry used to film a climatic battle scene in the Lord of the Rings.

The Cottonwood St house was consumed by flames when the fire crews arrived at 2.45am today.

The house was well ablaze when crews arrived, Southern Fire Service shift manager Brent Dunn said.

One person is being treated for minor burns after a house caught on fire in Porirua, Wellington.

Firefighters have managed to contain a bush fire on the Wither Hills, near Blenheim.

Four people escaped with minor injures after a single-story home in the Waikato caught fire.

Two fire crews were called to the Te Rahu Rd address at Poroporo shortly after midnight.

Four appliances from Turangi and Taupo and the Rural Fire Authority helicopter have been battling the blaze since 2pm.

A multimillion-dollar Waiheke Island mansion, formerly linked to Mark Hotchin, has gone up in flames. The 1990 mansion, which was once owned by a trust, KA No3, linked to Mr Hotchin, was set ablaze on Saturday as part of a firefighting drill on the Hauraki Gulf island.