Firefighters warn it could take days, even weeks, to totally extinguish a massive Marlborough fire that broke out yesterday.

As large-scale scrub fires continue to burn across tinder-dry farmland, the Fire Service says the country has seen a 50 per cent jump in the number of rural fires this year.

A fire that started in Marlborough overnight continued to rage today. Homes have been threatened from the fire blazing through 150ha of scrub near Onamalutu.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling large scrub blazes as dry weather has created tinderbox conditions across the country, the Fire Service says. Blazes in Canterbury, Marlborough and Manawatu are keeping about 330 firefighters busy.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling large scrub blazes as dry weather has created tinderbox conditions across the country, the Fire Service says.

A 47-year-old helicopter pilot made a lucky escape after his machine crashed while battling a blaze which was raging out of control in Marlborough today.

Minutes after an inferno ripped across a tinder-dry paddock behind her Christchurch home, Julia Walker thought she was going to die.

Some residents are re-entering their homes in the Christchurch suburb of Hei Hei as firefighters continue to dampen down areas razed by a large fire today.

Residents of a Christchurch house ravaged by a "turret of flame" in a fire overnight had only been there for a week, a neighbour says.

A man suffered serious burns to most of his body after the boat he was in burst into flames while he was trying to fill the tank with petrol.

A house fire has destroyed a property in Wellington over night.

A man has admitted setting fire to a house he was building with his ex-partner, dousing it in kerosene and watching it burn as he drank wine on the lawn.

A dad and three children escaped uninjured when their car burst into flames in Queenstown.

Efforts to contain a large scrub fire which ripped through more than 300ha at Arthurs Pass this week may take longer than initially anticipated, after rising temperatures saw hotspots flare up yesterday afternoon.

Tauranga police are investigating a suspicious fire which occurred in Tareha Lane in Te Maunga last night.

Department of Conservation gives warning as ground crews launch another onslaught against a large scrub fire ripping through more than 300ha at Arthurs Pass.

The 29-year-old woman who suffered serious burns outside a Dunedin service station has been transferred to Middlemore Hospital's burns unit.

Two cyclists and a tractor driver could hold the key to working out how a massive scrub fire started near Arthurs Pass yesterday.

"I saw a person burning from the waist up". Witnesses have described their horror at seeing a woman catch fire at a Dunedin petrol station yesterday.

A woman is in hospital in Dunedin after suffering serious burns at a service station.

"We thought we had it covered''. An investigation has been launched into what caused a steam train to start 21 fires south of Oamaru.

A former Commonwealth Games gold medallist has praised firefighters' efforts to retrieve his medals and sporting memorabilia after a fire destroyed most of his Auckland home.

Firefighters were able to retrieve medals from the Auckland home of a former weightlifting gold medallist after it was badly damaged by fire last night.

The multimillion-dollar home of former Commonwealth Games weightlifting gold medallist Tony Ebert went up in flames late last night.

A French vacationer scrambled to throw as many valuables as he could out of a burning building yesterday - only to watch the grass around them catch fire.

Firefighters have been battling a number of large rural fires across the North Island.