A spectacular fire which destroyed 13 terraced homes was given minute by minute coverage on the South Wales Argus website.

Rolling reports dominated its website from the moment smoke from the blaze was spotted by a photographer who was on another job more than ten miles away.

The fire had started in a joinery workshop and quickly spread to the homes.

Within five minutes of the first photo going online a reader sent in a stunning picture of the huge plume of smoke spreading across the city.

Other readers were quick to follow with more than 100 images being sent in by mobile phone and published immediately.

Two video reports were compiled, one of them by a reporter on the scene using his mobile phone and published well ahead of local TV news bulletins.

Coverage in the paper was left to the next day as the fire had started well after deadline.

The paper used a picture on its front page which had been sent in by a reader and had six pages of coverage inside using material gathered by its staff and readers.

Assistant editor Mark Templeton said: "It was a brilliant team effort with everyone getting involved including our work experience students.

"It's also another great example of how our combined online and print publications are continuing to give readers the immediacy they now demand and getting them involved with our coverage at such a level that they will just keep coming back for more."