A house on Waiwera Beach north of Auckland has been razed in an early morning fire.

Australia's intense heat and catastrophic bushfires are likely to become a yearly occurrence - with one Australian scientist saying global temperatures have been rising for a consecutive 333 months.

Firefighter Clea Gardiner isn't anxious about her deployment to help battle bush fires raging in Tasmania - she's simply looking forward to getting on with the job.

Firefighters in Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa are on high alert as the regions brace for forecast strong winds and hot temperatures.

Exhausted firefighters in three states yesterday kept catastrophe from major towns and cities, despite outbreaks last evening that were still threatening homes.

Emergency crews worked to put out a fire in Taupo last night.

A building in central Auckland was evacuated this morning due to a small fire on the eighth floor.

A lightning strike is believed to have caused a vegetation fire near Nelson last night.

Emergency teams searched burned-out buildings and cars in Tasmania yesterday as police warned that a number of people might have died.

Tasmanians spent another anxious night in evacuation centres as bushfires burned out of control throughout the state.

Two firefighters suffered injuries likely to keep them off work for days while battling a "wall of fire" at a Wanganui house.

An Invercargill high school has lost two new classrooms and a vehicle, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, in a large fire today.

Three sheds behind a Bay of Islands home caught fire early this morning.

Families fought flames with spades, garden hoses and shoes to protect their Havelock North homes yesterday.

A video of a speedboat dousing a burning vessel by swerving next to it has gone viral on the internet.