Fire chiefs praise crews who tackled dramatic Dundee store blaze

The blaze could be seen from across the River Tay

Author: Rob WallerPublished 13th Nov 2022

Fire crews remain at the scene of a dramatic fire which tore through an old furniture store in Dundee, with commanders saying they worked "extremely hard" to bring it under control.

The fire at the Robertson's building on Barrack Street sent a large column of smoke over the city which could be seen from the opposite bank of the Tay when it broke out on Saturday night.

At the height of the incident, nine fire engines attended the scene and two remained on site on Sunday.

9 fire appliances

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "We were alerted at 5.57pm on Saturday November 12 to reports of a building fire on Barrack Street in Dundee.

"Operations control mobilised nine appliances and specialist resources to the scene and firefighters are working extremely hard to extinguish a large building fire.

"No casualties have been reported and crews remain on the scene."

Dramatic images

Residents shared pictures and footage of the fire on social media.

Niall Campbell, who lives in Fife, said he saw the fire from across the River Tay.

He told the PA news agency on Saturday: "I am on the other side of the Tay so quite far away, but can comfortably say I have not seen a fire of its scale in all my time here."

A cordon was put in place, with police redirecting traffic as neighbouring streets were closed.

Some crowds were seen gathering in the street as the fire raged on throughout Saturday evening.

Art Deco building

Shona Robison, the SNP MSP for Dundee East and Social Justice Secretary, tweeted: "Such a shame to see the destruction of the once lovely Art Deco Robertson furniture store building in Dundee.

"Thoughts are with the emergency services working hard to get the blaze under control."

Conservative North East MSP Maurice Golden said he hoped "everyone is safe".

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