CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MI – A business and its distribution facility caught fire Monday night in Macomb County, causing continuous explosions of combustible materials that continued into Tuesday morning.
Authorities were still waiting Tuesday until it was safe to approach and investigate the scene of a now-extinguished structure fire at 15 Mile Road and Groesbeck Highway in Clinton Township. The building there was shared by a business called Goo and a distribution company called Select Distributors, which police say are part of the same organization.
Goo calls itself a smoke shop and sells tobacco, smoking accessories and the like. Officials said Select Distributors provides marijuana-related items and equipment to the local marijuana industry. Selling real marijuana in Clinton Township is not legal.
Authorities said there was a significant amount of flammable gases in the building shared by Goo and Select Distributors at the time of Monday night’s fire and explosions. While details are still unclear early in the investigation, Clinton Township Fire Chief Tim Duncan said the facility “literally got a truckload of butane in the last week” and that about half of it was left as of Monday night.
“You have Goo and they have certain products that they probably sell from there, and then you have the selected distributor side, which I think is the one that supplies the gases to the local area for what they do with their dispensaries, or sell them the pens or the gases , needed to deal with this industry,” Duncan said Tuesday at a news conference.
In addition to the butane truck, Duncan said the distribution facility has significant supplies of mostly butane, nitrous oxide and lighter fluid. As of Monday, the building also housed 100,000 vape pens, the company estimated.
Authorities believe the fire started before the explosions around 9:00 p.m. on Monday, March 4. Their working theory is that the fire heated the combustible materials, causing a series of explosions that sent cans and other debris flying a mile away from the facility.
A 19-year-old bystander was reportedly hit by one of these flying boxes. He was hospitalized and died early Tuesday morning, Duncan said.
Flying debris also injured a firefighter and damaged several emergency vehicles. The firefighter was taken to hospital with minor injuries and released shortly afterwards.
During a second news conference Tuesday morning, authorities accused the business of improperly storing the hazardous materials in a back room. No charges were filed, but business owners were questioned and “multiple people” were questioned, officials said.
“There will be consequences,” said Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon.
Duncan said earlier that investigators are still looking into the legality of everything at the facility.
“Oftentimes in the industry … there’s not as much oversight as we should have in these situations,” Duncan said.
The building itself burned for hours, a fire that could be seen for miles. There were constant explosions in 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 more explosions on Tuesday, although officials hoped they would be smaller and more contained.
It is not yet clear what caused the fire. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as ATF, was assisting with the investigation as of Tuesday morning.
People were urged to avoid the area on Monday and were asked to continue to do so on Tuesday. However, Duncan said he did not believe there was a threat to the public Tuesday morning.
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Officials said the massive fire was brought under control by around 11pm on Monday. After the fire was extinguished, concerns turned to air quality in the area due to the many explosions at the facility.
“They understand that some type of CO2 or propane explosions were going on at the facility, and again, it was just continuous explosions, as was the fire,” Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said Monday night.
A hazardous materials team is expected to investigate the site on Tuesday.
The fire was extinguished Tuesday morning, but smoke was still billowing from the facility around 6:30 a.m. Authorities were still concerned about hot spots that could potentially reignite.
Most of the roads in the area were open to traffic on Tuesday.
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