A firefighter seriously burnt in a blaze north of Wellington yesterday is being transferred to Auckland for specialist treatment.

An Auckland grandmother has been charged with murder by arson, stealing $12,500 from her employer and damaging their products by fire on three occasions.

An investigation and a separate review will be carried out into today's blaze in Petone that left a firefighter in hospital with burns.

Three members of the Austrian ski team here for the Winter Games have been left without passports or spare clothes after a fire engulfed their luxury lodge.

A motorcycle cop's bike burst into flames when he stopped to question a Christchurch motorist this morning.

Firefighters saved two Masterton homes from flames with only moments to spare after a blaze engulfed a residential garage yesterday.

One person has died in a house fire in Pongaroa, south of Dannevirke overnight. Fire services found it well alight on arrival.

A "brave'' 12-year-old girl who woke to flames in her Christchurch home this morning managed to wake the rest of her family and escape the inferno.

Police have referred two teenagers to Youth Aid after a school administration block was gutted by a blaze just before 4am yesterday.

A random act of kindness brought 92-year-old fire victim Pearl Sanger close to tears after she received a signed novel from writer Lee Child, not yet released in NZ.

Fire crews in Christchurch were last night battling a blaze at an abandoned "red zone" house.

Residents of an Upper Hutt house escaped safely today after a fire extensively damaged the property.

A fire at an abandoned house in east Christchurch early this morning is being treated as suspicious.

A mother's joy at seeing her son picked to play for the Tall Blacks has been marred by the shock of losing her new $2.2 million childcare centre in a fire.

A fire at a childcare centre on Auckland's North Shore early this morning is being treated as suspicious.

Valuable books are thought to be safe after a fire at Victoria University's library in Wellington this morning was sparked in an acetylene tank.

A fire which gutted the historic Aparima Tavern at Riverton yesterday spread "unbelievably quickly", a customer says.

A woman will appear in court today after a suspicious Invercargill house fire where firefighters pulled out an unconscious occupant.

A member of the public chased an arsonist attempting to set fire to a vacant Waikato building.