BBC headquarters in Scotland has been evacuated following a fire inside as staff were rushed to safety and programmes forced off air.
Workers were ordered to leave the Pacific Quay building in Glasgow after fore broke out in a plant room on the fifth floor just after 6.30am this morning.
BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast was taken off air, sudenly switching to pre-recorded music. Its breakfast TV news bulletins from Scotland were also suspended as firefighters were called, arriving within minutes.
Seven fire engines were sent to the scene. The BBC’s HQ in Scotland is based beside the River Clyde. A BBC Scotland spokesperson thanked the emergency services for their “rapid” response.
A BBC Scotland statement read: “We’re grateful to the emergency services for their rapid deployment on site.
“We’re working hard to ensure the safety of all of our colleagues and will restore our regular services on-air as soon as we can.”
In September, firefighters had to tackle a “complex fire” for 12 hours in a restaurant at the BBC’s former Television Centre headquarters in west London.
London Fire Brigade sent 15 engines to the nine-storey building in Wood Lane, White City, after a fire broke out in the early hours. A resident who lives in one of the converted flats at the site reported smelling smoke at 03:00.
“It was quite thick,” he said. “I could just see a red glow. It almost looked like a portal to the underworld. It was quite sinister. We could see about 100 firefighters and at least eight or nine fire engines that were all parked up.
“We were in a different part of the building on the other side of the complex, so I wasn’t evacuated or instructed by any firefighters, but they seemed very on it.”
