On the morning of June 30, 1998, an errant truck driver hauling paint attempted to pass through the small, medieval streets of the French-speaking Belgian town of Stavelot. The truck crashed and caught on fire. The ensuing fire ravaged the historic core of the city. Two people died and many were injured.
Stavelot was founded around 648 ACE as a location for a monastery by a cleric named Saint Remacle (or Remaclus), who had been provided support by the Merovingian King Sigebert III. I happened to be there as part of an archeological program that was slowly unearthing the foundations of the original 7th-century abbey. The town was caught in the crossfire of King Louis XIV’s 17th-century wars. It was then in the center of the fighting during the December 1944 Battle of Bulge and the site of a Nazi massacre. Needless to say, the town had experienced its share of misfortune.
We heard the explosion from a few hundred yards away and saw the massive fireball emerge over the tops of the houses. Being a smaller town, it took the local and regional firefighters some time to get on the scene. I grabbed my Canonet 28 and tried to take some photos, on gold old Kodak Gold 800-2.
