Three people were injured after a car crashed into a power pole this morning, causing a fire.

Two men who pulled the drivers from burning vehicles moments before they were engulfed in flames have been honoured for their bravery.

A potential disaster was narrowly avoided at a Hamilton petrol station last night after an agitated man allegedly set fire to a car and assaulted a man.

A person is dead and seven injured following a caravan and house fire at Invercargill early today.

A downtown Auckland apartment building has been evacuated after a fire that reportedly broke out inside a restaurant on the ground floor.

A huge fire at Taheke, in South Hokianga, is likely to take days and cost tens of thousands of dollars to put out.

Police say two men seen speeding away in a boat from a huge fire at Cecil Peak near Queenstown have denied any involvement.

Authorities are investigating a raft of suspicious fires in the South Island overnight.

Firefighters were this morning still battling a large blaze which ripped through hundreds of hay bales and threatened a house near Ashburton overnight.

Fire fighters are currently working to clean up a chemical spill in Christchurch.

Port Chalmers rugby players rushed to help a screaming man who was badly burnt in a car fire yesterday.

The operator of a Northland geothermal plant has denied Fire Service reports 30,000 litres of gas is leaking after an explosion at the site.

Victoria police are hunting an arsonist who set fire to an open-cut coal mine that has cloaked a nearby town in noxious smog.

A large fire has broken out at the Masterton Medical Centre this evening.

Firefighters are dampening down hot spots at a rural location near Cambridge following a massive shed fire in the early hours of this morning.

Swathes of smoke can be seen drifting across East Auckland due to a derelict vehicle and pellet fire in Mt Wellington.

Two suspicious fires which occurred in South Auckland overnight are under investigation.