A Hokitika teenager suffered serious burns after a party prank backfired in Kokatahi.

The fire that destroyed four classrooms and a library at Kapiti Coast's oldest school is "devastating" says the principal.

One person was taken to hospital in a critical condition after a house fire in Otara last night.

In the distance, Natasha O'Brien could hear Jewels, her miniature Jack Russell, barking.

An East Coast man has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his partner, who burned to death in their Tikitiki home.

A High Court jury has been told by the Crown that a man accused of murder killed the mother of his three children "in the most horrible way" imaginable.

A High Court murder trial has been told that police lost an opportunity to gather forensic evidence during an East Coast homicide inquiry.

A house fire in Wellington was contained before it caused major damage to a two-storey home.

A large vegetation fire in Central Otago has been contained.

Filming of the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will continue despite a massive fire at the production studio in Auckland overnight.

A fire allegedly started by a Gisborne man accused of burning his partner to death was so hot it melted a fire fighter's helmet, the High Court at Gisborne has been told.

A woman has been seriously injured in a fire in east Auckland.

A kindergarten has been destroyed in a suspicious fire in Paeroa overnight.

A Wellington home has been left "un-liveable" following a fire overnight.

Lives were put at risk from couch fires lit too close to houses in Dunedin's student quarter, Dunedin police and the Fire Service have warned.

An explosive fire in West Auckland led to downfall of an alleged criminal enterprise living the “high life” on the profits of the illicit drug trade.

A Thames mother gave birth in the back of a car this morning as she was driven across farmland to avoid a fallen tree and powerlines blocking the road to hospital.

Two children were pulled from a burning car by their mother, who had left them alone in the vehicle while she went to the bank.

A passerby has rescued two children from a car fire that started from a cigarette lighter.

An elderly woman says she is lucky to be alive after two police officers rescued her from her burning Tauranga home.

The identity of a police officer who saved an elderly woman from a burning Tauranga house last night has been revealed.

The life of an elderly woman has been saved tonight by a police officer who crawled through a smoke-filled Tauranga house.