The 29 workers who died in the Pike River disaster would have died within minutes of the original explosion at the West Coast coal mine, a coronial hearing in Greymouth has heard.

Police have launched an international search to find the husband of a woman burned to death by the side of a Waikato road last week, after he flew to Fiji with their four-year-old son the day after her body was found.

The husband of a woman found burned to death next to a Huntly road last week fled overseas with the couple's four-year-old son the day after her body was found, say police.

A lesbian couple have been targeted by arson and had anti-gay slurs graffitied on their property.

A woman whose body was found burning by a remote Waikato road was alive when she was set on fire.

Police believe they have identified a woman found on fire on Thursday evening, and that an accelerant was used to start the blaze.

Dairy giant Fonterra has been given permission to sue the owners of the Tamahere coolstore that exploded in 2008 for $25m worth of cheese that it lost in the blaze. The blast killed one firefighter and injured seven others.

Fire crews are battling a scrub fire at Rotorua Golf Club, and a helicopter has been brought in to douse the flames.