One person was killed after an enormous fire Monday night at a suburban Detroit warehouse known to stock combustible materials ignited explosions, shook homes and rained down debris as far as a mile away, officials and residents said.
The fire in Clinton Township was under control early Tuesday, but the potential health effects were unknown.
Emergency services were called at 8:50 p.m. Monday to a building owned by a business called Select Distributors. Clinton Township Police Department warned residents that debris was “being projected into the air and coming down as far as a mile away from the explosion.”
People were told to stay inside and avoid the area.
Clinton Township Fire Chief Tim Duncan said at a Tuesday morning news conference that a person believed to be 19 years old had died as a result of the explosion. He said the person was about a quarter mile down the road from the site of the explosion and suffered an injury from a flying canister.
NBC News affiliate WDIV of Detroit received calls from viewers who said they heard explosions as far as the town of Troy, 15 miles to the west, in neighboring Oakland County. Clinton Township is in Macomb County.
Some callers said that items inside their homes rattled and shook from the vibrations, while others asked whether the explosions were gunfire or fireworks.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel told WDIV after 11 p.m. Monday that the fire was under control. Duncan told reporters that traffic in the area would be limited due to an explosion that occurred shortly before the Tuesday morning news conference.
“At this stage, we’re not thinking that there should be any danger to the community,” Duncan said. “That’s why we’re trying to keep people as far away as we possibly can.”
One firefighter was injured by an exploding canister and a bystander received minor injuries and was treated at a local hospital, police said. It’s not clear if the bystander is the 19-year-old victim killed.
Duncan told reporters in a phone call that no one was in the building at the time of the fire, and debris was primarily from 12-inch metal canisters, each weighing a few pounds.
“The building is almost completely burned down. Firefighters were unable to access it due to the hundreds, if not thousands of explosions occurring,” he said.
Local residents were told to stay inside with their windows closed.
Eyewitnesses captured the scene from afar and posted footage to social media with the sound of multiple, sustained explosions as projectiles shot out into the sky. One person said the explosions continued for more than half an hour.
Police and the fire service requested the help of other local police agencies and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives because the business was “known to stock combustible materials.”
Police and firefighters were on the scene through the early hours of Tuesday and removed debris from surrounding roads.
On its website, Select Distributors says it supplies novelty items and phone accessories to dollar stores, and sells vape products, nitrous oxide and CBD oils.
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