Firefighters have been attacked with an airgun while responding to an incident in Dundee.

They were responding to a fire alarm in Balmoral Gardens when their engine was struck by several pellets at about 2245 BST on Monday.

Tayside Fire and Rescue station manager Roy Dunsire said the "irresponsible act" risked the safety of fire crews responding to emergency calls.

A youth has been detained by police in connection with the incident.

The officer in charge of the fire appliance said: "I was alerted to the attack by the driver of the fire appliance. He informed me that the fire appliance had been hit by pellets, at least four times.

"As he was telling me this I heard the sound of further pellets being fired. I instructed all crew members to use their helmet visors and requested the immediate attendance of the police."

Mr Dunsire said the incident was "totally unacceptable and irresponsible" and had presented a risk to the safety of the fire crew.

"Firefighters in our community are facing enough risk with the incidents they have to deal with," he said.

"What these people have to realise is that we are here to protect the community.

"We are providing a public service and attacking fire crews with airguns stops us from doing this. What this person saw as a prank could have had fatal consequences."

Discusting. People like that should be tied to a stake and shot at with a pelet gun themselves in a public square (With bluetac in instead of pellets though - Bloody hurts)