Fire crews are fighting a "well involved" house fire in Stanmore Bay on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, north of Auckland.

Animals scurried for cover as a blaze ripped through scrub near Rotorua Airport -- one of three big blazes to keep firefighters in the North Island busy this weekend.

A fire broke out at the TVNZ headquarters in central Auckland this morning.

The fire at TVNZ headquarters has now been extinguished, and fans are being used to ventilate the building.

A fire has broken out at TVNZ Headquarters on Victoria St, Auckland.

Firefighters last night battled a blaze at a farm on Great Barrier Island.

A large fire has destroyed a farm house on Great Barrier Island after it was spotted by off-duty Fire Service staff staying at a hotel on the island.

A man has been arrested following a house fire north of Wellington this morning, which is being treated as a domestic incident.

Smoke alarms are not most people's idea of a Christmas present, but the Fire Service wants us to think about them anyway.

Ten Kiwis have died in house fires this year where working smoke alarms hadn't been installed.

The 18-month-old toddler injured when his Mount Wellington home went up in flames on Saturday remains in a critical condition in Middlemore Hospital.

A woman who died in a house fire in Christchurch last week has been identified by police.

A toddler revived by firefighters after being pulled from his burning home is fighting for his life in Middlemore Hospital.

Heroic neighbours have told how a family formed a human chain to pass children to safety from a second-storey window at a house fire in Auckland yesterday morning.

Fire Service bosses are seeking law changes making it compulsory for rental properties to have smoke alarms installed and maintained.

Emergency services were called to the house in Malone Road Mount Wellington and found it "well ablaze".

The families of three house fire victims are "horrified" that gatherings intended to pay respects to their loved ones have turned violent.

Greg Johnston's life was shattered the moment he received a phone call to say his little sister was unaccounted for in a devastating house fire.

The head of fire investigations in the country says the recent spike in fatal house fires has "no rhyme or reason".

The family of Hamilton fire victim Toni Maree Johnston has described her as an infectious and fun-loving young woman at a press conference this afternoon.

The first of the funerals for three Hamilton house-fire victims will be tomorrow, as some of the grieving families prepare to speak publicly for the first time today.

One person has suffered burns after a family narrowly escaped from a house fire in Christchurch overnight.

Victim identification and a forensic examination at the site of a fatal Hamilton house fire involving specialist cadaver dogs is continuing after three people were killed on Saturday.

It wasn't meant to be a big party - just a gathering of a few friends of flatmates at the old Collingwood St villa to welcome a new flatmate.

Parents of a young woman who died with two others in a house fire say it's a 'bloody nightmare', as police seek cellphone footage of a party held that night.