A suspicious fire in an Ashburton garage where a family of three were sleeping was reported by a distressed child in the dead of night.

A fire at a Dargaville fertiliser plant has been contained and has been brought under control by the fire service.

The Fire Service responded to 60 firework-related calls across the country last night.

Thick smoke and falling ash surrounded Lynn Bennett as she fled the huge flames that came within metres of her Woodside home yesterday.

The fire, along the ridge of the Maungatua Hill Range, forced the evacuation of a number of properties on nearby McKendry Rd this morning.

Operators of an almost-built cafe in Auckland's Cornwall Park that was gutted by a deliberately lit fire on Sunday are considering temporary replacement options.

Several small bushfires are burning in northwest South Australia after a barrage of lightning strikes overnight.

The driver of a speeding car which caught fire at the end of a bizarre police chase had to turn himself in after dense bush and gorse proved too rough, a witness says.

A fire at an Auckland mosque that has been at the centre of allegations of extremist Islamic teaching is being treated as suspicious.

Police are investigating whether a fire at an Auckland mosque that has been at the centre of allegations of extremist Islamic teaching was deliberately lit.

A fire that gutted a million-dollar cafe in one of the country's most popular parks is being treated as suspicious.

A driver speeding at 150km/h dropped a hitch-hiker off on the side of the road before continuing to flee police until his car caught fire.

A fire at a mosque early this morning is under investigation.

One person has died after a a car and truck collided north of Auckland. It is the first road death of the long weekend.

Thick smoke from a farmer's burn-off blanketed Wanaka for much of yesterday afternoon, angering some residents and perplexing tourists.

Police are investigating a huffing incident in South Auckland after two people were hurt when a gas bottle exploded this evening.

Fire crews have stayed overnight at the scene of a suspicious fire on Blenheim's Wither Hills.

Friends of a boy buried beneath a mound of dirt ran to neighbouring homes to ask for help yesterday.

The son of a man killed in a controlled scrub burn-off in North Canterbury has paid tribute to "an extraordinary father figure".

A man killed in a controlled scrub burn-off near Arthur’s Pass in the South Island was believed to have been overcome by smoke inhalation.