CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Authorities provided more details Tuesday morning about what happened at a Macomb County business where a massive fire triggered a series of explosions on Monday night.
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A business and its distribution facility caught fire Monday night in Macomb County, triggering continuous explosions of combustible material lasting into Tuesday morning.
Authorities were still waiting Tuesday for it to be safe to approach and investigate the scene of a now-extinguished fire that overtook a building at 15 Mile Road and Groesbeck Highway in Clinton Township. The building there was shared by a business named Goo and a distribution company named Select Distributors, which police said are both part of the same organization.
Goo calls itself a smoke shop and sells tobacco, smoking paraphernalia and the like. Officials said Select Distributors provides marijuana-related items and equipment to the local marijuana industry. Selling actual marijuana in Clinton Township is not legal.
Authorities said there was a significant amount of combustible gases inside the building shared by Goo and Select Distributors at the time of the fire and explosions on Monday night. While specifics were still unclear this early in the investigation, Clinton Township fire Chief Tim Duncan said the facility had “literally received a truckload of butane within the past week” and that about half of that remained as of Monday night.
“You have Goo, and they have certain products that they probably sell out of there, and then you have the Select Distributors side, which, I believe, is the one that’s supplying the gasses to the local area for what they do with their dispensaries, or they’re selling them the pens or the gasses needed to handle this industry,” Duncan said Tuesday at a news conference.
In addition to the truckload of butane, Duncan said the distribution facility had a significant supply of mostly butane, nitrous oxide, and lighter fluid. There were also 100,000 vape pens in the building as of Monday, the company estimated.
Authorities believe the fire began before the explosions around 9 a.m. on Monday, March 4. Their working theory was that the fire heated up the combustible materials, causing a series of explosions that sent canisters and other debris flying a mile from the facility.
A 19-year-old bystander was reportedly struck by one of those flying canisters. He was hospitalized and died early Tuesday morning, Duncan reported.
The flying debris also injured a firefighter and damaged several emergency vehicles. The firefighter was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, and released shortly after.
So far, it was unknown if the company that caught fire was storing the hazardous materials legally, though officials gave no reason to believe otherwise as of Tuesday morning. Duncan said when authorities last inspected the facility one year ago, there was not as much butane stored in the building.
Duncan said investigators were still looking into the legality of everything at the facility.
“Oftentimes, the industry … there’s not as much oversight as we should have in these situations,” Duncan said.
The building itself was ablaze for hours -- a fire that could be seen for miles. There were constant explosions within the fire throughout Monday night and even into Tuesday morning.
Duncan said there was an explosion as late as 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. He expected there would be more explosions on Tuesday, though officials hoped they’d be smaller and more contained.
It was still unclear what caused the fire to start. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as the ATF, was helping with the investigation as of Tuesday morning.
People were urged to avoid the area on Monday, and were asked to continue doing so on Tuesday. Duncan did say, however, he didn’t believe there was a threat to the public as of Tuesday morning.
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Officials said the massive fire was contained as of around 11 p.m. Monday. Once the fire was out, the concern shifted to air quality in the area due to the many explosions at the facility.
“They understand some type of CO2 or propane explosions were taking place at the facility, and again, it was just continuous explosions, as well as the fire,” Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said Monday night.
A hazmat team was expected to investigate the scene on Tuesday.
The fire was extinguished as of Tuesday morning, but smoke still billowed from the facility at around 6:30 a.m. Authorities were still concerned about hot spots that could potentially reignite.
Most of the roadways in the area were reopen to traffic on Tuesday.
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