A massive blaze broke out at the old Southdown freezing works in the Auckland suburb of Penrose tonight.

A 6-year-old boy was killed when fire ripped through a Whanganui house last night.

The Orewa College board of trustees pleads guilty to charges laid against the school after a fatal boiler-room blast last June.

Fire is the third attack on an early childhood centre in the Nelson region in a year.

More than half of the people injured in house fires went back into their burning home to fight the blaze or grab possessions.

The seaside Waikato township of Raglan is reeling after parts of the historic wharf went up in flames this morning.

A fire that razed a Manawatu home overnight was "no accident" police say, amid reports a molotov cocktail sparked the blaze.