Fires

Scrub clearing contractors where given a fright yesterday morning when a controlled and permitted burn-off of gorse near Portobello got out of control.

Builders are still investigating the extent of damage at the Creek Cafe and Bar in Dunmore St, following a large kitchen fire on Saturday, and the fate of the building is not yet clear.

A Palmerston North man given an award for bravery for rescuing a woman from a Foxton house fire last year is still haunted by the cries of her daughter, who died in the blaze.

An education official in South Africa says four boys as young as 8 at a school for the blind died in a locked dormitory room after a fire.

Dunedin has a new export - couch fires.

House fires in Kelvin Heights and Hallenstein St kept the Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade busy yesterday.

Rural firefighters spent the day yesterday opening up hot spots at a gorse fire that got out of control on Scroggs Hill, near Dunedin, on Wednesday.

About 30 firefighters and volunteers from as far away as Otematata and Glenavy fought a fire covering about 3ha in plantation slash just east of the Hakataramea township yesterday afternoon.

Firefighters rush to put out a small fire on the first floor of the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry building on Saturday at 1.30pm.

Department of Conservation (Doc) fire investigators have narrowed down the areas where the vegetation fire on Tuesday may have started and are gathering information from witnesses on the pattern and travel of the blaze.