Photos of the aftermath as scrub fires destroyed cars, farms and properties near Prebbleton in Christchurch.

Fire service crews respond to callouts as strong winds sweep multiple blazes through dry fields and over roads south of Christchurch.

A teenage boy is lucky to be alive after he woke up to find his bed on fire. It is a harsh wake-up call about the need for smoke alarms, say fire authorities.

A bakery manager called 911 - because he mistakenly thought it was the right number - to alert emergency services to a fire which gutted part of his business in Akaroa yesterday.

Homes were destroyed and families forced to flee as scrub fires burned out of control in Canterbury. Strong winds swept multiple blazes through dry fields and over roads south of Christchurch.

A classic bach that featured in an insurance advertisement has burned to the ground, devastating its owners and the local community.

Farmers and conservationists are bracing for the effects of the bushfires still raging down the eastern states.

Fifteen fires are burning out of control in NSW with firefighters battling 126 fronts, two days after NSW was hit with heatwave conditions.

A small tornado in Kaikoura has lifted a roof and brought down power lines in the south island coastal township.

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.

Most of the nearly 100 people feared missing in bushfires in Tasmania have been accounted for and no deaths have been recorded so far, police say.

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.

Parents of children killed in the Doha Mall fire last year say they have been attacked by defence lawyers in a hearing to determine responsibility for the 19 deaths.