Clinton Township explosions kill man who was 1/4 mile away
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - A projectile from a Clinton Township explosion Monday night killed a man who wasn't even near the building.
Fire Chief Tim Duncan said the 19-year-old victim was about ¼ mile away from the building at 15 Mile and Groesbeck when he was hit by a flying canister. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he died around 4 a.m.
Shrapnel flew as far as a half mile to a mile in all directions, the fire chief said.
MORE: Blasts send chunks of metal in all directions
According to Duncan, the building that houses Goo and Select Distributors caught fire just before 9 p.m. and material inside the building, including nitrous gas and butane, began exploding. These explosions could be heard and felt for miles.
Debris from a fire and explosions in Clinton Township on March 4, 2024.
Duncan said he could hear the booms from his home, which is about seven or eight miles away from the scene.
"I was thinking to myself ‘hopefully this isn’t what I’m going to,'" he said.
When firefighters arrived, they couldn't immediately fight the flames because of the explosions that were sending large chunks of metal flying.
"There was no way we could put people in harm’s way like that," Duncan said.
A firefighter was injured when the truck he was inside was hit by debris. He is recovering at home.
Duncan said three fire vehicles were also damaged. Two of them had tire damage from debris. The other vehicle had extensive damage because it was hit by projectiles.
"We don’t know if that one’s ever coming back in service," he said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the fire department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and investigators will be looking into exactly what was inside the building.