Flames escaping from the roof of the building which houses the Hisler bookstore, rue Ambroise-Thomas. The fire which started this Sunday morning around 4 a.m. in the basement of this building near the Metz cathedral spread early in the afternoon to the roof which caught fire. Around a hundred firefighters are on site to put out the fire.
Although we do not yet know its origin, it could have spread easily via the maze of corridors in the cellars built in the Middle Ages which makes access for firefighters very complicated. At 4 p.m., they had not yet been able to reach certain corners. “The basement has become an oven which continues to heat and whose heat has risen to the frame and the roof“, explains the mayor of Metz contacted by France Bleu Lorraine. François Grosdidier who specifies that the heart of the building was not affected at this time.
The twenty inhabitants of this building was evacuated early in the morning and taken care of by the town hall. Three people were slightly injured. Around a hundred firefighters are currently mobilized. Reinforcements usually deployed on the Carling-Saint-Avold petrochemical platform arrived this afternoon.
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