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

A fire at a community recycling depot in Alexandra is being investigated as an arson attack, with a detective saying it was clear a fire had been "deliberately lit".

The Fire Service were called to Central Otago Wastebusters on Boundary Rd in Alexandra just after 8pm and arrived to find the building "well ablaze".

Residents were among those who tried to save their screaming neighbours from a fatal house fire which is believed to have claimed the lives of an adult and child.

Students and staff were back on deck at South Westland Area School today, five days after fire destroyed a senior block at the Hari Hari school.

Tyres were placed under two Hamilton school buildings and set alight in the second arson attack on the school in six years.

Fire Service spokesman David Meikle said three crews went to the blaze just before 5.30am.

Fire investigators were today sifting through the charred remains of a classroom block gutted by fire at Hari Hari early last night.

Spontaneous combustion is believed to have triggered a large fire at an Auckland Laundromat this morning.

Two Nelson renters escaped a fire which started in the lounge of their two story house last night.

Two children who were home alone when a fire broke out in a bedroom are tonight being housed by family members.

A woman who died after she was badly burned in a Christchurch house fire last week has been named.

The occupants of a Waikato house may have had a narrow escape overnight after a fire ripped through the building.

Owners of a house in Ohai will return to find their home ravaged by fire, after a blaze tore through the property early this morning.

Firefighters are trying to contain a fire in a shed at Matamata, which is full of palm kernel.

A woman badly burned in a Christchurch house fire last week has died.

Fifteen fire trucks are currently battling flames at a two storey house in the Coromandel.

A group of 15 New Zealand firefighters will fly out tonight to help contain wildfires that are burning uncontrollably in the United States.

Emergency services were called out to an address in Auckland after reports of an explosion in a garage fire.

A woman badly burned in a Christchurch house fire remains in a critical condition in hospital.

A woman critically burned in a Christchurch house fire yesterday has been flown to a specialist burns unit in Auckland.

The manager of a Christchurch laundry was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation after battling a blaze at his business.

A house was badly damaged in a South Island fire and one of its occupants was initially thought to be trapped inside.

An Otorohanga man is facing a charge of arson after the rural farm house he was living in was gutted by flames last night.

A Rotorua man had to jump naked out his kitchen window to escape a house fire that claimed everything he owned but his two guinea pigs.

Firefighters attended the scene of a fire at the Mt Albert Aquatic Centre in Auckland.

A person's body was found after a fierce house fire in Taranaki last night.

Four people managed to escape a fire that completely destroyed their homes in Dunedin overnight.