Explosion destroys motorcycle club on Detroit's west side

DETROIT (WJBK) - Authorities are investigating a late night explosion that destroyed a motorcycle club on Detroit's west side.

Authorities were called to the Street Royal Motorcycle Club around midnight, which is in the 11000 block of Dexter Avenue near Elmhurst Street. When firefighters got there, the building was already destroyed from an explosion. Crews worked to extinguish some flames that were still in tact.

No injuries have been reported. We're told nobody was in the building at the time. A number of cars in the parking lot next door at the Detroit City Auto Repair were also damaged.

Investigators believe at this time a gas leak caused the explosion. Arson investigators still plan to be on scene at some point on Wednesday.

"When I woke up this morning, I had hundreds of Facebook messages and calls. It's overwhelming so its a lot to lose," says Shalease Brown, secretary of the Street Royalty Motorcycle Club. "It's a family club. We had a lot of members pass away from accidents, cancer; we had a lot of personal items that belonged to them that were important."

Firefighters had to come back to the scene two times on Wednesday to try and put out a part of the building that kept rekindling. Because the structure was unstable, it was simply too unsafe for crews to go inside and fight the flames so they did the best they could dousing it with water.

Investigators believe at this time a gas leak caused the explosion. Arson investigators still plan to be on scene at some point on Wednesday.