A Rotorua woman whose home was torched by her ex-partner is shocked he has been released from jail after serving just over one-third of his sentence.

A discarded cigarette butt has been blamed for a blaze that wreaked $250,000 worth of damage to a shed, vehicles and equipment at a Masterton garden supply firm.

About eight hectares of forest has been burned by a blaze in rural Masterton, with crews still on site last night to keep the fire under control.

A Wanganui fireman is now heading the country's firefighters union and says he wants to develop much closer and clearer relationships with the Fire Service on his watch.

The body of an elderly woman who was trapped in her Wellington home as a fire ripped through will be recovered today.

Police will tomorrow start investigating the cause of a Wellington house fire that killed one elderly person today.

Fire destroyed more than 3ha of land and threatened homes in two separate Bay of Plenty blazes - one of which is believed to have been deliberately lit.

Three houses worth a total of almost $2.5 million in the Auckland suburb of Westmere will have to be rebuilt after an arson attack on one being renovated.

Firefighters have contained a blaze at Carter Holt Harvey's largest pulp and paper mill in Waikato this morning.

Emergency services have been called to a fire at a Rotorua paint shop early this morning where one person has been hospitalised.

A volunteer firefighter pulled a man from a room engulfed in flames as a fierce blaze early this morning razed one home and left only a blackened shell of the next door house.

A man was heard screaming in pain as a storage shed complex north of urban Christchurch erupted in flames this afternoon.

Two women had to run for their lives after the car they were in burst into flames and started a 2000sq m scrub fire that threatened homes in Welcome Bay.

Dozens of firefighters continue to battle a large scrub fire burning north of Auckland since Saturday.