A series of explosions at a Michigan vape shop left one person dead on Monday, and authorities now believe the supplier had been illegally holding canisters of butane and other flammable materials.
Debris was flung as far as a mile away, according to officials in Clinton Township, a suburb north of Detroit where the shop was located, NBC News reported.
The 19-year-old who died in the incident has yet to be publicly identified. The victim was roughly a quarter mile down the road from the shop when a flying canister fatally hit the person in the head.
Firefighters had difficulty accessing the building to combat the blaze “due to the hundreds, if not thousands of explosions,” and one firefighter was also injured by another flying canister, said Clinton Township Fire Chief Tim Duncan.
“According to the (fire department), stored in the facility, among other items, were containers of butane, nitrous oxide, lighter fluid, and vape pens. Containers, or canisters, were 12 to 18 inches in size, weighing 10 to 15 pounds,” officials said in a Tuesday statement.
Authorities identified the shop as belonging to Goo LLC and confirmed that the retail business was permitted to be in operation with a small warehouse for storage purposes.
But in recent days, the site allegedly received a large shipment of butane, as well as propane, nitrous oxide and other products.
“We know they were not allowed to have these canisters,” Paul Brouwer, the township’s emergency management coordinator, said at a Tuesday press conference. “They were not permitted to have them in this building.”
The incident continues to be under investigation as authorities attempt to determine just how much illegal material was stored on site, according to Chief Duncan.
Duncan added that he believed Goo LLC had been supplying gas canisters for the local vaping industry, along with the sale of other products.
With News Wire Services
