Firefighters were “very lucky” to escape serious injury after youths threw fireworks at them, a senior officer has said.
Station manager Bruce Farquharson was speaking in the wake of the bonfire night incident in Beauly Avenue, Kirkton, when a crew from the Macalpine Road station were sent to deal with an unofficial bonfire around 6pm.
He said: “The crew of five firefighters had gone out to a bonfire on a routine check and fireworks were thrown at them.
“It was very lucky that no one was seriously hurt.”
Police have been informed of the attack and are also investigating after a lit firework was pushed through the letterbox of a house in Charleston Drive at 9.55pm that night.
Despite these incidents, bonfire night passed off relatively quietly compared to previous years.
Official figures from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) showed that Tayside crews responded to 66 incidents and they dealt with 40 bonfires, which was down from 52 last year.
Terry Whyte, chairman of the Tayside branch of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “Safety of firefighters is paramount.
“Anything like this is a concern and someone could have got hurt, even the person throwing the firework.
“It is a busy time anyway, but that incident on top of it is the last thing that you need, putting firefighters and members of the public at risk.
“It is something that the fire service addresses through community safety initiatives.”
The SFRS said its crews had suffered 20 attacks across Scotland on November 5, with three happening in the northern region including Tayside.