One person killed after huge fire ignites Michigan warehouse, raining debris 'as far as a mile away,' police say

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.

Emergency services were called at 8:50 p.m. to a building in Clinton Township shared by a business named Goo and a distribution company named Select Distributors.

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. Goo calls itself a smoke shop and sells tobacco, smoking paraphernalia and other items, according to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit.

The fire sent debris flying into the air and coming down as far as a mile away from the explosion site, the Clinton Township Police Department said.

A 19-year-old man about a quarter-mile down the road from the site suffered a fatal injury from a flying canister, Clinton Township Fire Chief Tim Duncan said at a Tuesday morning news conference. Officials said the man was hit in the head and taken to the hospital, where he later died.

One firefighter was injured by debris that flew through his windshield and struck him on the side of his face, according to officials. The firefighter was treated at the hospital and released.

WDIV reported that it 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.

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.

One witness, Marie Ainsworth, said she had just sat down in her basement when she felt "the whole world, earth shaking."

"I didn’t know if we were at war," she added.

When Ainsworth went outside, she saw thick smoke billowing in the air.

"It was pretty bad and it was scary," she said. "It never stopped, it never stopped. The explosions never stopped."

Ainsworth said at one point she was worried the flames would hit the roof of her home.

"I’ve never been so afraid," she said. "I’m still shaken."

Robert Cannon, Clinton Township supervisor, told reporters that he lives 5 ½ miles away and the explosion sounded like "thunder right over our home."

"That's 5 ½ miles away so think about the people that were near the site," he said. "It was horrible. The ground was shaking. Our trucks were going to the site and the trucks were shaking. That's how bad it was."

Duncan said 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."

No one was in the building at the time of the fire, according to Duncan, who said the building was almost completely burned down. The debris primarily came from 12-inch metal canisters, each weighing a few pounds.

He said firefighters had trouble accessing the building "due to the hundreds, if not thousands of explosions" that occurred.

Two business owners were taken to the police department Monday night and interviewed by the fire prevention division and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Duncan said.

He told reporters that the business had recently received a semiload of butane containers and had "over half of that still left." There were also pallets of nitrous, lighter fluid, and over 100,000 vape pens that had lithium batteries inside of them, according to Duncan.

Officials told residents to stay inside with their windows closed. A Macomb County hazmat team did air monitoring Monday night "with negative results, so the air is fine," said Paul Brouwer, the emergency management coordinator for Clinton Township. Brouwer said the water was also "absolutely perfect."

Police and the fire service requested the help of other local police agencies and the ATF because the business was "known to stock combustible materials."

Police and firefighters were on the scene through the early hours of Tuesday removing debris from surrounding roads.