A navy damage control team has boarded a burning ocean-going tug off Northland hours after the crew abandoned ship when fire broke out in the engine room.

An explosive device found in a car in south Auckland last night was like "a home made firecracker", say police.

A guilt-ridden English grandmother saved her four greyhounds but left her young grandson asleep upstairs when her house caught fire.

A Rotorua man is alive today only because a stranger kicked down the door of his burning home and dragged him to safety.

A fire at an Auckland primary is the second major school fire in the upper North Island in two days, after arsonists torched classrooms at Kerikeri High.

Staff at Kerikeri High School fear students' mid-year exams and assignments may have been lost in a suspicious fire.

"This policy can only ever be seen as some sort of cost-cutting measure at the expense of the public," says the Firefighters Union.

Video found on social media shows a fire in Newmarket on Tuesday morning. Video/ @AucklandPeaceAction

The Fire Service is scaling down operations at a large fire in an industrial area of Auckland.

More than 100 firefighters were last night battling a blaze at a large abandoned cool store already charred by a fire 18 months ago.