A 48-year-old man who lost his life following a fire in the Clutha district last night has been named.

Firebugs struck in Auckland last night, damaging a South Auckland school, four cars and a garage.

Fire appliances have rushed to a house fire in Mangere.

The woman assaulted in an incident in Massey this morning is expected to undergo surgery at Auckland Hospital today.

A New Zealand man has been badly burned as he escaped his blazing family home with his 3-year-old son.

Three people suffered smoke inhalation after a fire at the Muddy Waters Tavern in Mercer overnight.

Lives could have been lost in a fire caused by mattresses being placed over under-floor heating vents in a school marae, the fire service says.

A safety warning has been issued to homeowners using Weiss heat transfer units over fears they could catch fire. Some models of the

Hazardous materials appliances attended a fire in a block of flats in Te Kauwhata at 7.21am this morning.

Two Hamilton police officers are being praised for catching a man who leapt from the second floor of a burning building.

A house has gone up in flames in Queenstown this morning.

A planned birthday party for a 6-year-old has turned into a nightmare today when a family returned home to find their house in flames.

Fire has engulfed a Taranaki house this morning.

A furniture factory in Christchurch collapsed before firefighters were able to make a start to battle the blaze which broke out late last night.

CCTV footage of a fire at the Waikato Museum which burned carvings and part of a waka showed it started when rags of linseed oil spontaneously combusted.

One person is receiving hospital treatment following a house fire in Porirua tonight.

A specialist fire investigator has been called to investigate a blaze at the Waikato Museum in Hamilton this evening.

A 3-year-old Paengaroa girl saved her family from potential tragedy after she alerted her sleeping father to a fire that destroyed half of their rented home on Thursday night.

A blaze ripped through one of the world's top art schools yesterday, damaging a historic building designed by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

A lightning strike caused a large fire which razed an historic homestead to the ground near Glenorchy this morning.

Cooking oil left burning on stoves has caused serious burns to an elderly lady and left a young family homeless in two separate house fires in Whangarei over the weekend.

The death of a 39-year-old at an onshore oil rig in Taranaki today remains unexplained.