Fire fighters were called to put out a massive fire early on Thursday at a methane gas filling station near the Tuscan town of Grosseto after a blaze broke out at a a nearby former steelworks hours earlier.
Four fire engines and 14 firemen raced to the filling station at 2.45 am and took over an hour to extinguish the blaze, which could be seen from more than 30 kilometres away.
Police were investigating the cause of the fire, which broke out in the agricultural area of Sant'Angelo Scalo.
Earlier, firemen battled a blaze at a former steelworks in Follonica in the province of Grosseto that broke out around midnight and raged for several hours.
Police were also probing the Follonica fire.
No casualties were reported in either of the blazes.
