US Army truck catches fire in Poland, 3 injured

Three US service members were injured in yet another traffic incident in Poland, as Washington and Warsaw are reportedly nearing a deal on permanent US presence in the eastern European country.

A military truck traveling in a convoy between Swietoszow and Luboszow in Lower Silesia caught fire on Wednesday, local media reported. The injured service members were taken to a hospital and military firefighters were on the scene. The cause of the fire was being investigated.

The incident comes amid reports that the US and Poland are close to reaching a deal on establishing a permanent US military base, which Polish President Andrzsej Duda joked would be called “Fort Trump” during his visit to Washington last fall.

This is the third mishap involving US troops struggling with rural Polish roads so far this year. Last month, two soldiers were injured when three army vehicles collided near the Hungarian border. In February, a bus carrying US service members overturned in Lower Silesia, putting six soldiers in the hospital.

Poland currently hosts around 4,000 US troops – including a tank brigade, an infantry brigade, and an Air Force detachment – as part of an ongoing NATO effort to “deter Russia” launched in 2015. The leadership in Warsaw has been eager for a permanent US presence.

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