DETROIT – A fire broke out at a DTE energy plant in East China Township near M-29 and Recor Road along the St. Clair River.
Dark plumes of smoke can be seen from miles away and over the border in Canada.
Local 4 has been told there are no reports of any injuries or missing workers at this time.
There are 15 fire agencies battling the flames and fire crews from as far away as Detroit are helping to fight the fire.
DTE released this statement:
A generation unit at the St Clair Power Plant electrical generation unit has caught fire.
Employees were evacuated immediately and safely. At this time, there are no known injuries at the facility.
St Clair and Marine City first responders are on site and are working to contain the fire.
DTE successfully invoked its emergency plant procedures and shut down all other units at the site"
DTE announced Friday it still has limited access to the plant, which is still closed. DTE said customers will not see an impact to their electric service.
"The State is in contact with DTE and carefully following the situation to first and foremost ensure protection of public health and safety and protection of the environment," the Michigan Agency for Energy and Michigan Public Service Commission said in another statement.
DTE president, Trevor Lauer stated in a news conference that he did not believe the building was a total loss, adding no DTE employees were hurt in the fire and they were all out within 3 minutes of the initial alarm.
“You never want something like this to happen but our employees performed exactly how we would want them to under these circumstances,” Lauer said.
Earlier, a Local 4 viewer sent us photos of her view from Ontario, Canada where a dark cloud of smoke can be seen across the river.
ClickOnDetroit.com will continue to update this story.