The 200 workers left jobless after a massive fire gutted a Waikato freezing works remain cautiously optimistic.

Sparks from a contractor's saw are believed to have ignited the fire that gutted a Waikato freezing works.

An operation has begun to extinguish the fire coming from the vent shaft of the Pike River mine and cool the surrounding concrete pad, using water pumped up from a nearby creek.

The beef processing plant badly damaged by fire at Te Aroha, near Hamilton, overnight may be rebuilt into a world-class plant, owner Silver Fern Farms says.

It could take weeks for a GAG unit to put out a coal fire in the Pike River mine, police say.

A man was seriously injured yesterday in a house fire, caused by what authorities say was a P-lab explosion.

The strength of the West Coast community will help it overcome its collective grief over the deaths of the 29 men who died in the Pike River mine tragedy, Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand said today at the memorial service in Greymouth.

John Key today delivered a personal message to the mothers whose children have been left fatherless as a result of the Pike River mine tragedy. His was one of several moving tributes at today's Remembrance Service.

Several thousand people have filled Greymouth’s Omoto Racecourse and numerous MPs and city mayors have taken their seats on the main stage for the Pike River Official Remembrance service

A GAG unit at the Pike River mine appears to be working with early indications a fire is dissipating.

Much of NZ will come to a standstill today as the victims of the Pike River tragedy are remembered.

A jet engine brought in to make the Pike River mine safe is now in place. Rescue services are hopeful it will be in use tonight so the process to recover the remains of the 29 trapped miners can begin.

Hopes of recovering bodies are fast fading for families of the 29 miners lost in the Pike River mine.

An Australian expert was arriving in Greymouth tonight to provide advice on the jet engine GAG operation at the ill-fated Pike River Coal mine, where it's "highly likely" part of a coal seam has caught fire.

The chief executive of Pike River mine says the families of the 29 victims of the disaster are coming to terms with the fact they may not get their loved ones back, as recovery efforts continue to be hindered.

Deployment of the "GAG" unit at the Pike River coal mine has been delayed after a fire at the entrance to the mine this morning. Rescuers are trying to extinguish a coal fire so the bodies of 29 trapped men can be recovered.

Nightmares about the 12 Queensland miners he could not save have haunted John Brady for more than 20 years.

Flames were last night shooting from the top of a 108m ventilation shaft at the Pike River coal mine - and only a couple of mountain peaks away a 43-year-old fire from the Strongman mine continues to billow smoke.