Seventy-four-year-old Eltham Fire Brigade volunteer Max Mackay has been awarded the United Fire Brigade association 50-year service medal.

A Fire Service has disagreed strongly with some earlier witnesses at the CTV inquest that there was confusion over leadership on February 22 last year.

Search and rescue units were told to stop scouring the collapsed CTV Building's rubble for survivors within 24 hours of it coming down.

A merino singlet may have saved the life of a grandfather who suffered horrific burns when the car he was working on exploded.

A coroner's inquest today heard from a senior search and rescue expert who described the "chaos" at the disaster site when he arrived two hours after the building's collapse.

A huge ball of flame could be seen over a Carterton farm after a quad bike sparked a shed blaze on Tuesday night.

A family of two adults and five children escaped their burning house with just the clothes they were wearing.

More harrowing testimony is expected as a coroner's inquest into the deaths of eight CTV building victims continues today.

The police officer left in charge of the Christchurch earthquake's biggest disaster zone said he became "frustrated" at being ordered off the site as he tried to rescue survivors.

Police today admitted the February 22 earthquake disaster in Christchurch "overwhelmed" their communication system.

The parents of triplets who died in the Doha mall fire have made an emotional plea for justice after the trial over their deaths was delayed for a third time.

A scorned lover who set fire to her ex's flat has been jailed for three years in an emotional appearance at Tauranga District Court today.