A swift response from the Lancashire Telegraph to the death of mother Caneze Riaz and her four daughters in an early morning house fire in Accrington brought big sales increases for the paper.

In-depth follow-ups on the running story kept readers up to date on the tragedy and recorded a year-on-year sales increases of 8.1 per cent, 4.5 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively for November 1, 2 and 3.

The Lancashire Telegraph reacted quickly and robustly both online and in print to meet the huge community interest in news about what had happened.

Within a few hours of the tragedy breaking, comprehensive news and picture reports were on the website along with two videos – one containing interviews with devastated friends and neighbours and a second of the press conference where investigators said that it had been started deliberately.

The newspaper, which had been printed overnight, published a special on-day edition with a 10.30am deadline containing five pages of news about the blaze. Eight stories were posted online by the end of the day.

A wealth of background detail, reaction and tributes followed with eight pages on November 2, four pages on November 3 and further detail on November 4 following the death of the Caneze’s husband.

On November 9 the Telegraph carried a third video of the funeral of the mother and daughters – an event which attracted the largest number of mourners seen in East Lancashire in living memory. The printed product carried five pages of coverage.

An online book of condolence opened directly after the fire has so far attracted 225 separate messages and been read by 2000 people.

A total of 15 other stories were carried online, each of which was read by up to 1,300 people and the three videos have been viewed over 3,000 times in total.

There is also an online photo gallery. That and most of the content can still be seen at the Telegraph website.

Editor Kevin Young said: “For the first time we were able to use video, the website and the printed product to report on what for us was a huge news story. The result was unbeatable coverage and the number of readers and viewers who turned to us reflects that.”