Fire fighters are at the scene of a blaze in Cathedral Square in Christchurch. Six fire trucks were called to the scene at about 12.23pm.

One person was trapped in a lift after a transformer caught fire outside Eden Park today.

Firefighters have been battling a blaze that broke out at a Chinese Takeaway shop in Porirua this morning.

Guests at an Auckland motel were evacuated earlier today as a shed fire started spreading to the main building.

A car fire in Auckland is being treated as suspicious.

A Christchurch cricket pavilion went up in flames this morning in a suspected suspicious blaze.

A person has been found dead in a house fire in Taranaki.

A fire is still burning in a woodpile three days after it started. The fire started in a pile of recycled timber at Canterbury's Burwood Resource Recovery Park on Thursday.

Two people were treated for smoke inhalation after a pot on a stove caught fire in New Plymouth today.

Firefighters were called to the scene of a fire in Wellington early this morning.

A smoke alarm is credited for preventing serious injuries or damage in a house fire this morning.

A Canterbury bach was evacuated in the early hours of this morning as an large scrub fire threatened to get out of control.

The ringing of the fire alarm was followed by a ring of another kind at a Whangarei primary school yesterday, as a firefighter proposed to his teacher sweetheart.

A South Auckland house has been ravaged by an early morning fire today.Fire fighters were called to the single-storey house in Boundary Rd, Opaheke, Papakura shortly after 1am.

Motorists braved flames to free a driver and three passengers from a burning vehicle involved in a fatal crash near Palmerston North.

Firefighters from rural New Zealand are flying to Canada to help battle blazes raging in almost 800,000 hectares of forest.

A car with four occupants has rolled on the western side of Lake Taupo.

Firefighters have been working to contain a poisonous gas leak at a meatworks near Ngaruawahia this morning - the second at the company in less than a fortnight.

Fire crews are battling a fire at a vacant house in Napier tonight.

A house fire in Glen Innes this morning is being treated as suspicious.

A central Wellington building was evacuated this afternoon after a first floor kitchen caught fire.

Firefighters are still battling a fierce blaze at a panelbeaters in Dunedin tonight, but have managed to bring the fire under control.

A fire in Feilding has left a residential property with major damage this morning.

Firefighters remain at the scene of a fire that has left a house "severely damaged" near Christchurch this morning.

A crane is being brought in to move a truck after it rolled on its side earlier this morning near Wellington.

The Fire Service wants new regulations on child-safe lighters to be fast-tracked by the Government after another house was badly damaged by a child playing with a lighter.

The blaze that gutted two Queenstown homes was yet another caused by the poor disposal of hot ashes, a fire safety officer says.

A fire broke out in one of the stands at the New Zealand Boat Show this morning, damaging fishing equipment and closing a section of the display.

Six fire trucks were called to the scene of the fire on Hickory Avenue in Henderson at 2.12pm, northern fire communications shift manager Scott Osmond said.

No chickens were harmed in a fire that tore through a commercial chicken processing plant in rural Waikato this morning.