© Maurice Fick / RTL
A large plume of black smoke rose above the A31 north of Metz on Sunday evening. A heavy goods vehicle, a second, then a third caught fire in the heart of the Metz-Deux Fontaines industrial park.
It was a dramatic scene on Sunday evening in the Woippy district, north of Metz, as a massive plume of black smoke billowed into the sky shortly after 7pm.
Drawn by the sight, hundreds of onlookers gathered along Avenue des Deux Fontaines, a long road that borders the residential area and the expansive Metz-Deux Fontaines industrial zone.
The fire broke out in the large parking lot of the La Maxe truck centre, located just 500 metres from the A31 motorway slip road. Three trucks were engulfed in flames, quickly reduced to smouldering wrecks.
Firefighters from Metz arrived swiftly and battled the intense blaze for nearly an hour before bringing it under control. The fire generated extreme heat, and the flames came dangerously close to a fourth truck parked nearby. Fortunately, firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading further.
According to early reports, the incident may have been caused by a truck driver attempting to prepare a meal using a mess kit, which went disastrously wrong, as reported by Le Républicain Lorrain.
The La Maxe truck centre, a regular stop for truck drivers who use the nearby hotel and dining facilities, is located within the vast Metz-Deux Fontaines industrial zone, home to nearly 200 companies.
© Maurice Fick / RTL
