Emergency Services

A major clean-up is underway at Northland's Waipoua Settlement as residents return after last week's ferocious forest fire.

Police were called to a property on Don Croot Street after a woman was found unresponsive at about 9.15pm on Friday night.

However the blaze that also destroyed the building's 128-year-old cinema isn't thought to be suspicious.

The incident, on Kutukutu Street at about 7.50pm, left three people in hospital with injuries the police said were 'consistent with stab wounds'.

A multi-vehicle crash, including one towing a boat, is causing traffic delays on an Auckland motorway.

Around 2000 people fled areas around the northern Japan city of Ofunato, while more than 1200 evacuated to shelters, according to officials.

Police said one person received serious injuries.

The Waipoua River fire remained at 91 hectares with a 5.8km perimeter.

A man was found critically injured after what Palmerston North police believed was an assault in Cloverlea.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined.

Two people remain in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

Recruits in the Auckland wing would be able to stay at their own home during training, rather than spending months in Porirua.

One person has died after a vehicle crashed on a rural Auckland road on Saturday night.

Several firefighting crews are responding to a scrub fire in the North Island's Tararua district.

Police are still at the scene of the two-vehicle crash that left one person dead.

One is in a serious condition, two are in a moderate condition, and another had minor injuries.

The driver of a stolen car fled at high speed and on the wrong side of the road before crashing into another vehicle.

Three people are in hospital with serious injuries consistent with stab wounds.

Police said emergency services were called to Kutukutu Street at 7.50pm, after what appeared to be an altercation involving neighbours.