The Gazette was able to bring its readers dramatic pictures of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach fire – thanks to the fire and rescue team at the scene.

The evening newspaper acted quickly to get staff to the site when the blaze started on Thursday, with reporter Ben Rossington and photographer Mark Pearson there within minutes.

But while safety measures meant they were unable to get to the heart of the action, digital cameras provided by the paper meant firefighters were able to capture an inside view.

Reporter Ben, who lives less than a mile from the pleasure beach, was called on by his paper shortly after the alarm was raised and watched the drama unfold before filing a colour piece for The Gazette.

Assistant editor Alison Bott said: “In cases like this we send the nearest person to the scene, which this time was Ben. He had been at work all day and was supposed to have been off on Friday.

“We were also able to take our own pictures and received some from the fire and rescue team. Some time ago we supplied them with digital cameras and these have proved to be worth their weight in gold yet again.”

The Gazette devoted the first three pages of Friday’s edition to the blaze, with the front-page cleared of adverts to allow for a striking front-page picture with just a two paragraph intro leading to a full two-page account.

Full-colour bills – usually only produced three or four days in advance – were also quickly produced ahead of the edition hitting the streets at around 11.30am.

The Gazette also grabbed pictures of the blaze aftermath by hiring a light aircraft and taking aerial shots.

It has been following up the story by looking at how the fire will affect the holiday season, how much it will cost to repair the damage and how the pleasure beach will recover.

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