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A 70ft tall phone mast has gone up in flames in Birmingham - days after fake claims that 5G was linked to cornavirus emerged.

Eight firefighters were called to the EE structure 'well alight' on Spring Road in Tyseley at 8.18pm yesterday (Thursday).

West Midlands Police also attended to block off the road while the flames were tackled for over an hour.

Neither emergency service was able to confirm the fire was deliberate at this stage, whilst they would not be drawn on any link to fake social media posts claiming 5G was causing Covid-19.

The spurious theory has been totally dismissed and criticised nationally for a lack of scientific evidence.

(Image: Birmingham Live)

A West Midlands Fire Service spokesman said: "We had a call to a telecommunications site in Spring Road. We responded with a brigade response vehicle from Ladywood Station and a fire engine from Hay Mills.

"There were eight firefighters in total. We asked West Midlands Police to assist with traffic and they closed the road. The structure is a steel tower around 70ft tall. Crews found it well alight and close to a building on the same street, but the building was unaffected."

(Image: Birmingham Live)

WMFS also confirmed Western Power Distribution attended to make the electrics safe while mobile phone operator EE was also notified.

A spokeswoman from West Midlands Police confirmed the force was waiting for a fire engineer to determine how the fire started stating it could possibly have been an 'electrical issue'. She said they were awaiting further information before investigating.

(Image: Birmingham Live)

Spring Road sits between Tyseley, Acocks Green and Sparkhill. Earlier in the week locals on a Facebook group discussed the fake claims linking 5G to coronavirus.

One post said: "Has anyone noticed these lamposts being put up all around Sparkhill and Small Heath? They have a 5G antenna at the top.. They recently have been turned on and send out immense amount of radiation. There is definitely a strong link between the coronavirus and 5G."

It was followed up with more than 100 comments. One said: "Yeah 5G and coronavirus is just a cover up."

But most people dismissed the conspiracy theories, with one stating: "Guess the earth is flat too, huh?."

EE has also issued a statement about the incident which said: "Our engineers are assessing the cause of the fire at one of our towers in Birmingham. If it transpires that it was arson, which looks likely at this time, then we will work to help West Midlands police identify a culprit.

"To deliberately take away mobile connectivity at a time when people need more than ever to stay connected to each other is a reckless, harmful and dangerous thing to do. This site served thousands of people in the Birmingham area, providing vital 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity as it has done for many years. We will try to restore full coverage as quickly as possible, but the damage caused by the fire is significant.“