A Mount Maunganui woman's labour pains helped save her and her young family when they woke to find their house on fire.

The farm worker who died in a house fire near Taihape on Saturday night had just got engaged.

A Hamilton house was under police guard this morning after a fire that injured two people, one seriously.

An overheated cafeteria deep fryer is believed to have started a fire that forced the University of Auckland's Epsom campus to close yesterday.

A fire broke out in the cafeteria at the University of Auckland's Epsom campus this morning causing panic among students.

Fire crews are continuing to dampen down a large fire at the Timaru Port. The blaze started around 4pm yesterday at the Sanford Limited's cold store.

A new mother who rescued her sleeping baby and then battled a blaze in a bedroom is urging people to install smoke alarms.

A man has been arrested in relation to a P-lab explosion in Mount Maunganui last month.

A wildfire tearing through a coastal region in Southern California nearly tripled in size as high temperatures fuelled the flames, but an expected weekend change in the weather will likely give crews manning the fire lines much-needed assistance.

A large vegetation fire which engulfed 10,000 square metres of scrub, in the central North Island, has been contained by fire services.

Witnesses to a fire that spread rapidly through sand dunes in Papamoa are praising the quick actions of firefighters.

A young mum who lost everything in a house fire last weekend is overwhelmed at the offers of money, clothing, homeware and food as she rebuilds her shattered life.

Police charged a man with arson after he was caught by a security guard hired to protect vacant houses from suspicious fires, including one that razed a house.

The man who lived in a Mt Maunganui home where an alleged P lab exploded this week always seemed like a good tenant, according to his landlord.

Neighbours of the P lab that exploded in a Mount Maunganui home say it is "horrible'' and "disturbing'' to live near such a dangerous place.

Residents are returning to their houses this morning following a suspected P lab explosion that has injured at least one man.

The fire that engulfed a car with two young children inside while their mother was shopping was accidentally started by a 3-year-old girl.