He battled up to 500C heat and 18m flames to save a house and, for his efforts, was transferred to hospital suffering from heat exhaustion.

The unseasonably high temperatures and strong winds of "Hotober" fanned the flames of South Island fires yesterday.

Flights are at a standstill at Dunedin Airport and a large fire grew rapidly out of control this morning as strong winds batter Otago.

Fire investigators are looking into a suspicious van fire on Auckland's Remuera Rd this morning.

Fire crews are dealing with a truck fire on State Highway 29, south of Matamata this morning.

A Fire Service spokeswoman said the fire was growing, and was currently 2ha by 1.2ha in size.

An area of Nelson has been evacuated after a truck carrying gas cylinders caught fire causing some to explode.

A blaze the size of three rugby fields was battled by 18 crews last night at the edge of the Ashly Forest in Canterbury.

Five people were treated for suspected smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in a house in South Auckland this morning.

A Fire Service spokesman said five fire crews had been at the scene of the large fire Paraparaumu.

An investigator will today determine the cause of a blaze that ripped through a Dunedin property last night.

Fire Safety investigators say initial indications are that a large fire in Glendene on Friday night was cause by leaking LPG.

Firefighters successfully contained a large fire in the Auckland suburb of Glendene last night. It took seventeen fire crew to extinguish the fire at a house on Bancroft Ave after they were called to the blaze about 9pm.

Family awoke to a strong smell and the sight of thick black smoke.

New Zealand is likely to get a new, national fire service - but regions will get a high degree of control over how they operate.

A house fire and a big blaze that flared up when a house being transported on two trucks hit power lines has kept firefighters busy.

A teenager has been arrested over a fire at a karate club in Invercargill.

A 10-year-old boy sent to his room to practise his times tables accidentally started a fatal house fire by playing with a lighter.

A man who died at a West Auckland house fire last night was trying to rescue children from the blaze.

Firefighters were called to the scene of a blaze at the Milson Foundry in Palmerston North this afternoon.

An Auckland firefighter who has been to "thousands" of call-outs has found out in the worst way possible what it's like to be on the other end of the emergency.

An elderly man may have died after getting "excited" by big flames during a farm burn-off in rural Canterbury last year, a coroner has heard.

Flames and plumes of black smoke erupted from the 100,000-litre tank and debris was strewn hundreds of metres.

An explosion "like a sonic boom" sent debris flying 100m through the air and killed one person in South Auckland today.

A large forest fire south of Dunedin, near the small village of Waipori Falls, is believed to be under control.

Hamilton firefighters had to intervene between a couple who started arguing after a fire began in their car.

A faulty dryer caused a fire in a rural Waikato home last night but it's appliance accomplice - the handy washing machine - helped douse the flames.

Occupants of an Auckland apartment block escaped serious injury overnight, after a fire broke out in the unit.

A suspicious blaze in a 100-year-old school building follows six previous incidents of vandalism since March this year.

An electric cat mat was behind an inferno that damaged a house in Auckland this morning - one of three animal rescues today.