By Graeme Strachan and Stefan Morkis

A SPECTACULAR fire engulfed the Tay bridge television transmitter in Fife last night, leaving thousands of homes in Dundee without TV reception.

The electrical blaze on the mast, near Northfield Farm, started around 10pm when cables near the foot of the transmitter caught fire.

As flames rose several metres up the metal structure they were easily visible from Dundee on the other side of the Tay, as was smoke from the burning cables.

Both Fife and Tayside fire and rescue services fielded numerous calls about the blaze.

A crew from Tayport Fire Station arrived on the scene shortly after 10pm, but discovered that because high voltage cables were burning they were unable to tackle the blaze immediately. Instead, they had to stand guard and make sure the flames did not spread while waiting for an expert to arrive and decide the best way to proceed.

It was not expected that they would be able to begin attempting to extinguish the blaze until the early hours of this morning.

The Courier office was also flooded with calls from concerned residents who could see the flames glinting on the horizon.

Michael Wilson, of Southampton Place, in Dundee, said, “I was quietly watching BBC 2 when the reception went off. I wondered what was wrong and looked out the window to see the transmitter was on fire. You could see the flames quite clearly.”

Stephen Mill of Ballumbie Hill said, “The TV went off and I looked out the window and saw two big orange glows. They were quite big and were coming from the transmitter but there was not as much smoke as I would have thought.”