'It sounded like a bomb': 3 suffer severe burns, 13 rescued after suspected apartment explosion in Detroit
Detroit apartment explosion cause unknown
The cause of a Detroit apartment explosion that left three people with severe burns and nine others with minor injuries is currently unknown. Investigators will enter the building on Littlefield once it is stabilized and begin looking into what happened.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit firefighters rescued 13 people from a west side Detroit apartment early Monday after a reported explosion.
According to executive fire commissioner Chuck Simms, six children and six adults were trapped inside the apartment on Littlefield near Schoolcraft and Schaefer.
The backstory:
Simms said crews were called to the two-story building on reports of a fire and explosion around 4 a.m. When firefighters arrived, they saw people jumping out of windows.
"They immediately went into action to rescue 12 individuals," he said.
Later in the day, the victim count was upped to 13, with one more adult injured.
All victims were taken to local hospitals in varying conditions. Some of those victims suffered severe burns to large parts of their bodies, including a 30-year-old man with burns on 90% of his building, a 27-year-old woman with burns to 20-40% of her body, and a 3-year-old girl with burns to 15% of her body.
The victims who were burned were all in the same unit, Simms said. The other victims are listed as stable after suffering other injuries, such as scrapes and bruises, he added.
"I thought it was just somebody had crashed into the building literally, but then you look at it and there's no fire, there's none of that," said Steffen Moore, who lives in the apartment. "It sounded like a bomb. Because I didn't smell any smoke, I don't see any fire. You don't smell any chemicals."
What they're saying:
Simms praised firefighters for their quick response, saying that they prevented the situation from becoming worse.
"Without their fast response and fast thinking, this could have been a lot worse," he said.
Dig deeper:
Residents across Metro Detroit were awoken Monday morning to an alert on their phones warning them about the possible explosion.
The Detroit Fire Department said this wide-ranging alert was sent in error and was only meant for people living in the zip code surrounding the explosion.
Detroit Fire Department apologizes for explosion alert sent to phones
The Detroit Fire Department said an alert sent to phones about an explosion Monday morning was a mistake.
"DFD apologizes for any inconvenience this caused the community," a representative for the department said.
What's next:
Though an explosion was reported, Simms said that cannot be confirmed until an investigation is conducted.
The building must be demolished. Afterwards, investigators will begin working to pinpoint a cause.
The Source: FOX 2 interviewed executive fire commissioner Chuck Simms for this story.