19-year-old dies after being hit by flying object from explosion, fire in Clinton Township

A 19-year-old died after he was hit with a flying object from a fiery explosion at a vape distributor about a quarter-mile away in a Detroit suburb.

Fire officials raced to put out a massive fire as hundreds of explosions boomed in Clinton Township, around 25 miles north of downtown Detroit, at around 9 p.m. Monday. The explosions and fire happened at a business building that housed Select Distributors, according to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Fire Chief Tim Duncan said the 19-year-old may have been observing the fire from a nearby carwash when he was struck, but officials were still investigating the death.

"Our thoughts and prayers and sadness to the family, friends and loved ones in the community of the loss of a life of a 19-year-old out in the street that got hit by one of those pieces of shrapnel," Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

"I couldn't think of anything sadder as an outcome for this particular situation," he said.

Clinton Township police said area residents and businesses were evacuated.

Duncan said he could hear the explosions from his house 7 or 8 miles away as he rushed to the scene.

"You could see the amount of fire just coursing in the sky," he said at a news conference Tuesday. "The explosions were actually shaking the car."

Duncan said the explosions were so intense firefighters couldn't initially approach the building. "We had to back out," he said. "There was no way we could put people in harm's way like that."

"This by far was the biggest one that I've ever seen," said Duncan, who has fought fires for 25 years.

The fire was reportedly under control by 11 p.m. Monday, but the cleanup for the explosions and fire continued through Tuesday morning.

Here's what to know about the fire.

Nashville plane crash: 5 people dead after single-engine plane crashes along interstate

Where were the Clinton Township explosions?

The fire and explosions began in a building that housed Select Distributors, police said.

Duncan said Select Distributors provides gases for vape pens. The building also houses Gu, a vaping distributor that had over 100,000 vape pens in storage at the time of the fire.

"They had literally received a truckload of butane within the past week, and they still had over half of that left," Duncan said. "So this is what you're seeing strewn throughout the area."

Duncan said two business owners were interviewed by officials from the local fire department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Monday. The investigation is ongoing, under the jurisdiction of both agencies, Duncan added. Clinton Township police are also assisting.

"Our last inspection did not show this amount of material in that building. So we're going to look into that," Duncan said.

Clinton Township Supervisor Robert Cannon said the city would have "issued violations immediately," had officials known containers of butane and nitrous oxide were being kept in the back rooms of the building.

"There are going to be repercussions," he said.

Residents up to 10 miles away in Macomb Township, Michigan, reported hearing loud bangs that persisted for more than an hour. Smoke and flames could be seen for miles.

Were there any injuries?

Duncan said a firefighter was briefly hospitalized after he was hit with broken glass and shrapnel from the explosion.

Cannon said the firefighter was injured when an object went through the windshield of the fire truck.

Both a police and a fire vehicle were damaged by exploding projectile canisters.

Duncan said county officials had to "scrape the road" to clear debris from the explosions. He said officials were trying to recover blades and knives thrown by the explosion.

The Detroit Free Press reported at least one person discovered an open knife in the debris.

Social media captures fire, expulsions

Did the fire affect the air quality in Clinton Township?

Duncan said a hazmat team that arrived to test the air quality Monday evening concluded the area was safe.

"They monitored the situation, they had all their equipment set up," Duncan said. "Everything came back fine. They weren't concerned."

Hackel said Monday preliminary findings from air quality tests determined there was smoke, but nothing hazardous.

Testing was mostly west of Groesbeck, as the wind was pushing smoke westerly and semi-northerly, he said.

Hackel said people with smoke allergies or issues breathing may want to find shelter or a different location to stay if they are bothered by smoke while inside their homes in the immediate area.

He said the county's emergency management assisted with air quality testing and remained on the scene. He said dust or particles on the ground will be tested if need be.

The disaster knocked out power throughout the area, Duncan said. Technicians for DTE Energy were working to restore power as of Tuesday, he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Explosion in Detroit suburb to blame for 19-year-old's death