An "irreplaceable" private collection of work by some of New Zealand's finest contemporary artists has been destroyed in a fire at a house near New Plymouth.

A large amount of asbestos has been discovered in an abandoned school which caught fire yesterday but the Fire Service says nearby residents are in no danger.

Fifteen fire engines are battling a large blaze which has engulfed an abandoned school hall in Petone this evening.

A family will have to rebuild their lives after their Auckland home burned down as a result of a child playing with a cigarette lighter.

The menacing red sky turned blue as the wind change came and Halls Gap dodged a bullet.

The searing heatwave that has engulfed southeastern Australia since the start of the week has at least two days to run.

Two early morning fires deliberately lit at an Auckland school and church may have been started by the same people, police say.

Fire fighters are battling a large blaze in Titirangi park in Gisborne which has come within 20 metres of some houses.

One child remains in hospital after two young children were pulled from a burning car in a Palmerston North supermarket carpark today.

A fire lit in the early hours of this morning has damaged part of Auckland's St Mary's church.

Health and high fire danger alerts are coming into force as the heatwave that scorched Perth and ignited huge fires close to the city moves up the east coast.

A large fire at an Auckland primary school is being treated as suspicious, the fire service says.

A truck has caught on fire in Waikato blocking part of State Highway 27.

The Fire Service has been at the scene of a house fire in Christchurch this morning.

A large scrub fire has engulfed a cliff-face in Opahi Bay, about 20km south of Warkworth, tonight.

A common kitchen feature has been blamed for fires which destroyed one home and badly damaged another in the past month.

A scrub fire has forced a halt to train traffic outside Hamilton.

A train is believed to have ignited a large blaze that destroyed a vast crop and threatened to spread into nearby areas of Chertsey in Ashburton yesterday, firefighters say.

A fire has broken out at a Manurewa business with reports of people possibly trapped inside. St John was called to the fire on Great South Road at 12.25pm today.

A New York City father began posting harrowing tweets online revealing how his high rise apartment building was burning below him - trapping him and his family inside.

A multimillion-dollar luxury lodge in Whangamata's Wentworth Valley was engulfed by "a huge fireball" and destroyed early yesterday.