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.

Smoke alarms alerted a family to ceiling fire in their Canterbury home early this morning.

A blaze which began behind a fire place at a home in Wellington last night was quickly brought under control.

A house fire in central Christchurch this morning is being treated as suspicious.

Just over $40,000 has been raised for the three girls orphaned in a South Canterbury fire this week.

The Auckland strip club is likely to be out of action for awhile, after a "slow smouldering fire" damaged some 50 percent of the building.

The three sisters who escaped a house fire that killed their parents and younger brother yesterday have spoken of their horrifying ordeal for the first time.

Police have identified the man who died in a Panmure apartment fire yesterday.

The three sisters orphaned after yesterday's horror Waimate house fire have spent their first night without their parents and younger brother.

The blaze in Manurewa was thought to have been caused by a faulty electric blanket.

Two fires have claimed the lives of four people today, prompting the Fire Service to warn people that all blazes can be dangerous, regardless of size.

Three sisters orphaned after a horror house fire in South Canterbury this morning are "very scared" and mourning the loss of their parents and younger brother.

Spontaneously combusting tea towels caused a fire at a laundromat overnight.

Four people have been rescued off the roof of a burning building in South Auckland this morning.

A person who tried fighting a kitchen fire was taken to hospital after suffering smoke inhalation last night.

A stable block at the Omoto Racecourse was razed by an early morning arson early today.

Fire crews arrived "in the nick of time" after a blaze broke out at The Bog Irish Bar in Dunedin last night.

Four people from Waikato suffered from smoke inhalation after they moved an outdoor fire brazier indoors early this morning.

Firefighters were called to the scene of a fire in Wellington early this morning.

A chimney fire attended in Westport last night has highlighted the danger of people taking batteries out of smoke alarms to be used in other gadgets.

A woman trapped inside a burning Auckland home yesterday morning said the four people sleeping in the house when the blaze broke out are lucky to be alive.

A woman trapped inside a burning Remuera home this morning said the four people sleeping in the house when the blaze broke out are lucky to be alive.

Firefighters are at the scene of a blaze at a house in West Auckland.

Tenant John Williams was in hospital being treated for a suspected heart attack when he was told his house had caught fire today.