One dead, one injured in explosions, blaze
‘Biggest’ fire engulfs building near Detroit
A 19-year-old died after he was hit with a flying object from a fiery explosion at a vape distributor about a quarter mile away in a Detroit suburb.
Fire officials raced to put out a massive fire as hundreds of explosions boomed in Clinton Township, about 25 miles north of downtown Detroit, around 9 p.m. on Monday. The explosions and fire happened at a business building that housed Select Distributors, as reported by the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Fire Chief Tim Duncan said the 19year-old may have been observing the fire from a nearby car wash when he was struck, but officials were still in the process of investigating the death.
Police said area residents and businesses were evacuated.
Duncan said he could hear the explosions from his house 7 or 8 miles away as he rushed to the scene.
“You could see the amount of fire just coursing in the sky,” he said at a news conference on Tuesday morning. “The explosions were actually shaking the car.”
Duncan said the explosions were so intense that firefighters couldn’t initially approach the building. “We had to back out,” he said. “There was no way we could put people in harm’s way like that.”
“This by far was the biggest one that I’ve ever seen,” said Duncan, who has
fought fires for 25 years.
The fire was reportedly under control by 11 p.m. Monday, but the cleanup for the explosions and fire continued through Tuesday morning.
Here’s what to know about the fire:
Where were the explosions?
The fire and explosions began in a building that housed Select Distributors, police said.
Duncan said Select Distributors provides gases for vape pens. The building also houses Gu, a vaping distributor that had over 100,000 vape pens in storage at the time of the fire.
“They had literally received a truckload of butane within the past week, and they still had over half of that left,” Duncan said. “So this is what you’re seeing strewn throughout the area.”
Duncan said employees were interviewed by officials from the local fire department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Monday night. The investigation is ongoing, under the jurisdiction of both agencies, Duncan added. Clinton Township Police are also assisting.
“Our last inspection did not show this amount of material in that building. So we’re going to look into that,” he said.
Residents up to 10 miles away in Macomb Township reported hearing loud bangs that persisted for more than an hour. Smoke and flames could be seen for miles.
Were there any injuries?
Duncan said a firefighter was briefly hospitalized after he was hit with broken glass and shrapnel from the explosion.
Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon said the firefighter was injured when an object went through the windshield of the fire truck.
Both a police and a fire vehicle were also hit and damaged by exploding projectile cannisters.
Duncan said county officials had to “scrape the road” to clear debris from the explosions.
Did the fire affect the air quality?
Duncan said a hazmat team that arrived to test the air quality on Monday evening concluded that the area was safe.
“They monitored the situation, they had all their equipment set up,” Duncan said. “Everything came back fine.”
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said on Monday night that preliminary findings from air quality tests determined there was smoke, but nothing hazardous.
Testing was mostly west of Groesbeck, as the wind was pushing smoke westerly and semi-northerly, he said.
Hackel said people with smoke allergies or issues with breathing may want to find shelter or a different location to stay if they are bothered by smoke while inside their homes in the immediate area.
He said the county’s emergency management assisted with air quality testing and remained on the scene. He said dust or particles on the ground will be tested if need be.