By Bruce Robbins

FIREFIGHTERS WERE forced to call for police back-up when dealing with two bonfires in a Dundee housing estate on Saturday night.

Tayside Fire and Rescue convener Charles Farquhar last night slammed the actions of “idiotic” gangs of youths, who confronted firefighters in an effort to hamper their operations, as “totally unacceptable.” He promised to look into the incidents to see what could be done to protect firefighters in future.

The incidents happened in the Douglas scheme on Bonfire Night when a fire crew from the Balmossie station was called to deal with two separate outbreaks.

One involved a bonfire in a back garden in Balunie Avenue and the other the report of a car on fire in Ballantrae Terrace.

In the latter incident, it appeared that fireworks had been lit beneath a car but these are understood to have fizzled out by the time fire crews arrived on the scene.

Firefighters spotted a bonfire on nearby waste ground which they were keen to extinguish, but a large crowd of abusive youths surrounding it prompted them to call the police.

Fire Brigade Union official Jim Malone said firefighters were “confronted” by the youths and rather then have them exposed to potentially hostile behaviour, the officer in charge withdrew to await police back-up.

Mr Malone said the decision to withdraw the fire crew on each occasion was “absolutely correct.”

He said, “This sort of behaviour takes place throughout the country but, fortunately, is quite rare in Tayside.

“We have done a lot of work trying to get our community fire safety message across and it seems to be paying off but even just one incident like this would be one too many.

“It is unacceptable for firefighters to be subjected to abuse when going about their business.”

Mr Farquhar described the youths involved in the fire incidents as “silly idiots.”

He added, “Behaviour like that could cost lives—the lives of the general public, the lives of firefighters and the lives of police officers.

“People have been calling me to compliment the council on its fireworks displays and, generally, everyone has been very well behaved—but idiots like this can spoil things.

“We don’t want to put a damper on people’s celebrations and it’s obvious that police officers can’t be in attendance at every incident on Guy Fawkes’ night, but we can’t have obstacles put in the way of firefighters.”

Across Tayside, firefighters had to deal with a total of 115 calls between 5 pm and midnight on Saturday. Of those, they attended 95, well down on the previous year when they received 143 calls and attended 114 fires.

The fire and rescue service were in action almost as soon as darkness fell at around teatime.

A control room spokes-person said in most cases firefighters were forced to extinguish the flames due to the absence of proper adult supervision.

The 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ failed gunpowder plot was otherwise celebrated in exemplary fashion by the estimated 20,000 people who went to Baxter and Lochee parks for the city council’s displays.

The thud of massive fireworks exploding in the night sky could be heard across Dundee.

Jennifer McLaren, who travelled from Perth for the Baxter Park display, said the light show was fantastic.

She added, “I don’t know why people would set up illegal displays because that was absolutely fantastic—they had every firework imaginable.”